Labour's migrant hotels policy dealt major blow after council WINS battle to stop asylum seekers being housed there

The Sun

9 hours ago

ASYLUM seekers will be kicked out of a flashpoint hotel after a council yesterday won a court battle to ban them living there.
The decision is a huge blow to the ­Government's policy of housing migrants in hotels.
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A High Court judge ruled the move to accommodate the migrants over paying customers at The Bell Hotel may breach planning rules.
Epping Forest District Council launched the legal challenge after protests erupted in recent weeks.
Public anger grew after a migrant living at the hotel in Epping, Essex, was charged with sexual assault.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the ruling throws Labour's asylum policy into chaos.
'Plans thrown into chaos'
Other councils are now poised to launch their own legal challenges to the Home Office scheme.
Twelve hotels located in areas where Reform UK has a majority are understood to be planning their own court battles.
Corina Gander, Tory leader of Broxbourne Borough Council, Herts, said the decision had set a 'massive precedent' and boosted their efforts to close a migrant hotel.
Yesterday's temporary injunction, subject to appeal, means everyone being put up at The Bell must leave before September 12, with a hearing to decide whether to make it permanent later in the year.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's 11th-hour bid to get the case dismissed was refused by the judge.
A lawyer for the Home Office warned the decision would 'substantially impact' its ability to house asylum seekers in hotels.
Edward Brown KC also said it 'runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests'.
Border security minister Angela Eagle said the Government aimed to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament.
She said: 'We will continue working with local authorities to address legitimate concerns.
'We will carefully consider this judgment.'
Mr Philp said: 'This throws asylum accommodation plans into chaos.
"Many councils will now follow Epping's lead and take legal action to avoid hundreds of young male illegal immigrants being housed in the middle of their communities.
All things being equal, The Bell will be empty by September 12, and that's really important for Epping Forest.
Philip Coppel KC
'We now know many crimes including rapes and sexual assaults have been committed by illegal immigrants in asylum hotels, and many local councils will want to protect their residents from this.'
After a hearing in London's High Court last week, Mr Justice Eyre said Somani Hotels Limited, owners of The Bell Hotel, had 'sidestepped public scrutiny' by not applying for planning permission to convert it to migrant use.
In his judgment, he said that while the council in Epping had not 'definitively established' Somani Hotels had breached planning rules, 'the strength of the claimant's case is such that it weighs in favour' of granting the injunction.
He also said the fear of crime being committed by migrants was a 'relevant factor' and it is 'understandable' that recent arrests 'form a basis for the local concern'.
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Philip Coppel KC, for the local authority, said the situation was 'wholly unacceptable' and provided a 'feeding ground for unrest'.
He added: 'There has been what can be described as an increase in community tension, the catalyst of which has been the use of The Bell Hotel to place asylum seekers.
'It is not the asylum seekers who are acting unlawfully.
'It is the defendant, by allowing the hotel to be used to house asylum seekers.
'It really could not be much worse than this.'
Council leader Chris Whitbread hailed the judgement.
Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, he said: 'All things being equal, The Bell will be empty by September 12, and that's really important for Epping Forest.
'The Government have to address the bigger issue of the illegal asylum problem, but in Epping Forest we will stand up for our residents.'
Mr Whitbread also urged locals not to gloat.
He said: 'Don't protest.
'This is the beginning, not the end.'
This community stood up bravely, despite being slandered as far-right, and have won.
Nigel Farage
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called it 'a victory for the parents and concerned residents of Epping'.
He said: 'This community stood up bravely, despite being slandered as far-right, and have won.
'They represent the vast majority of decent people in this country.
'Young, undocumented males who break into the UK illegally should not be free to walk the streets anywhere.
'They must be detained and deported.
'I hope that Epping provides inspiration to others.'
Piers Riley-Smith, for Somani Hotels, said that 'disagreement with Government policy' did not justify an injunction.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch hailed the ruling as a 'victory for mums and dads'.
She said of the migrants: 'They need to be moved out immediately.
'Bring back a proper deterrent and remove all illegal arrivals immediately, so towns like Epping never have to deal with this again.'
In 2023, Great Yarmouth Borough Council won an injunction preventing hotels along its seafront from being used to house asylum seekers.
FLAGS FURORE
By Julia Atherley
SIX white mini-roundabouts have been daubed with red crosses to make them look like St George's flags, sparking a police probe.
Cops are treating the incidents in parts of Birmingham and in Bromsgrove, Worcs, as criminal damage.
It comes after Birmingham Council and Tower Hamlets in East London took down England and Union flags from lamp-posts despite backing the flying of pro-Palestine flags.
One Brummie said: 'There's a real sense that people who are proud to be British are being made to feel ashamed of their patriotism.'
The Union Jack and St George's flags have been raised nationwide as part of an online movement called Operation Raise the Colours.