Home Office wins appeal to keep asylum seekers in Epping hotel
Asylum seekers will be allowed to stay at a hotel in Epping, after the Court of Appeal overturned a previous ruling from the High Court.
The decision from the second highest court in the UK means that the 138 men currently housed at The Bell Hotel in the Essex town can stay put.
Earlier in August, Epping Forest District Council – a Conservative-run local authority – was granted an interim injunction, which was meant to kick in from September.
The Home Office has described the injunction as a “dangerous precedent” to set, with the legal challenge opening the door to other councils trying the same thing.
Lord Justice Bean said that the High Court judge in this case had not considered the broader implications of siding with the council.
The senior judge said that legal attempts to block individual hotels from housing asylum seekers “ignores the consequence” that these people still need somewhere to stay.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper will now be allowed to intervene in any future legal proceedings.
A major wedge issue
While the overturning of the injunction is a legal victory for the government, the decision also deepens the wedge between the Labour government and the insurgent Reform UK opposition.
Labour has been trailing behind Nigel Farage’s party in the polls, and earlier this week, the Clacton MP revealed plans for mass deportations of as many as 600,000 migrants.
As many as 2,000 protesters joined protests outside The Bell Hotel in early August, and a number of further demonstrations have taken place throughout the month.
The two main right-of-centre opposition parties have accused Starmer of allegedly putting the rights of migrants above those of Brits.
Shortly after the ruling, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a post on X: “Local communities should not pay the price for Labour’s total failure on illegal migration.
“Keir Starmer has shown that he puts the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people who just want to feel safe in their towns and communities.”
In an extended statement, Badenoch described the ruling as a “setback” rather than the “end” of the issue and urged Conservative councils to keep mounting legal challenges against the hotels.
The opposition leader added: “I say to Conservative councils seeking similar injunctions against asylum hotels – KEEP GOING!”
Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “The government has used ECHR against the people of Epping.
“Illegal migrants have more rights than the British people under Starmer.”