Rishi Sunak defends asylum seeker barge plan after series of setbacks

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended his government's decision to accommodate migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge despite a series of setbacks.
Sunak argued the UK's approach to dealing with the English Channel crossings was fairer for the taxpayer than putting up asylum seekers in hotels.
Migrants were housed on the barge off the Dorset coast, in south-west England, on Monday last week.
But they were removed on Friday when traces of Legionella - a bacteria which can cause the potentially fatal Legionnaires' disease - were found in the water supply.
The prime minister swerved a question about whether he was personally warned about potential health risks for asylum seekers on board the barge.
"What has happened here is it is right that we go through all the checks and procedures to ensure the wellbeing and health of the people being housed on the barge," he told broadcasters on a visit to a hospital.
Sunak, who has returned to work after a family holiday in California, argued that ministers were taking a fair approach when it came to the small boats crisis: "But taking a step back, what is this about? This is about fairness.
"It is about the unfairness, in fact, of British taxpayers forking out £5 million or £6 million a day to house illegal migrants in hotels up and down the country, with all the pressure that puts on local communities."
The Bibby Stockholm will reportedly cost taxpayers more than £20,000 ($25,500) a day, and could accommodate more than 500 migrants in total.
Dorset Council has been paid £2 million to help manage the scheme locally.
Ministers estimate the current cost of housing migrants in hotels across the UK is £6 million a day.
NGO Reclaim the Sea has estimated the savings from the hotel bill through the use of the Bibby Stockholm could be £4,694 a day, a sum the advocacy group describes as "trivial."
Health minister Will Quince earlier suggested migrants could return to the barge within days, describing the Legionella scare as a "teething issue."
But he said migrants will only return to the vessel if it is safe to do so.
Newspaper reports have meanwhile suggested that Brussels has rebuffed calls for a returns agreement between the Britain and the European Union.
It would mean Britain is unlikely to be able to send people arriving on small boats across the Channel back to France in the near future.
Sunak has pushed for a bilateral returns agreement with Paris but French President Emmanuel Macron believes any deal must be at an EU level.
A leaked memo reported by the Daily Mail and The Times newspapers suggests such a pact is not being entertained by Brussels, which is dealing with its own internal rows over migration and refugee returns reforms.
Citing leaked Cabinet Office notes, The Times said a senior aide to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had rejected negotiations on fresh terms following a push by Sunak during talks at the Council of Europe in Iceland in May.
A spokeswoman for the commission denied that any rejection had been made during talks with UK officials.