The UK has been dealing with migrants located in the country quite intensively for some time. At the beginning of August, the first people arrived on the Bibby Stockholm, a special barge prepared to house approximately 500 male asylum-seeking migrants.

Now it has been reported that the European Union has failed to reach an agreement with the UK to return migrants arriving in the country via the English Channel. Does the EU confirm leaked memo’s authenticity?

On Tuesday 15 August, Time and the Daily Mail reported that a copy of a memo of talks between the European Commission and the UK had been leaked. Ursula von der Leyen's aide was said to have ruled out the possibility of a migrant readmission deal.

This would mean that the EU would not allow the UK to send back migrants who enter the country via the English Channel. Readmission would mean that people crossing the border illegally could be sent back to the country where they first sought asylum.

A memo of talks between British National Security Adviser Tim Barrow and Bjoern Seibert, von der Leyen's head of cabinet, shows that the EU is rather against the agreement. Brussels allegedly rules out the possibility of a new readmission deal after Brexit.

However, as reported by the Guardian on Wednesday, 16 August, a commission spokesman denied that Ursula von der Leyen's chief of staff said there would be no deal between the UK and the EU on migrants. The topic is still open.

The Times previously reported that the talks themselves could still be difficult because agreements between member states on reforming the internal readmission system were said to be stalled.

"This a hugely complex and challenging issue and one the prime minister has put as part of his five priorities and I know that he and his home secretary are determined to address it and stop the boats.

"As a health minister I won’t have been over any of the details of the negotiations with the European Union. But if you look at the details of the discussions that we do have with Turkey, with Albania and indeed the French, they are starting to bear fruit and then more widely if you look at the deterrent factor, again that is making a difference," said UK health minister Will Quince as quoted by Sky News.

This means that migrants will continue to arrive in the UK, and then a significant proportion of them will end up on barges such as the Bibby Stockholm. Ironically, on Friday 11 August, just a few days after first migrants were placed on the barge, 39 of them were moved back to the mainland as a precaution because the Legionella bacteria, which can cause a severe infectious respiratory disease, had been detected in the water.

Such dangers had already been reported by humanitarian organisations prior to the, as they call it, "floating prison’s" opening. On Monday 14 August, the UK health minister declared that none of the migrants showed symptoms of this kind of a disease.

Source: Independent, Time, Guardian, Daily Mail, Sky News, PAP