Minister brands Farage ‘the very worst' kind of politician over asylum hotel claims
Dan Jarvis accused the Reform UK leader of fanning the flames of division that has seen protests flare up outside hotels housing asylum seekers after Mr Farage celebrated a council's successful legal challenge against one in Epping.
Epping Forest District Council won an interim High Court injunction to stop asylum seekers being housed at The Bell Hotel, arguing it had become a 'feeding ground for unrest' in recent weeks after a series of violent protests resulted in multiple arrests and saw police officers injured.
In response, Mr Farage wrote in the Daily Telegraph: 'Now, the good people of Epping must inspire similar protests around Britain.
'Wherever people are concerned about the threat posed by young undocumented males living in local hotels and who are free to walk their streets, they should follow the example of the town in Essex.
'Let's hold peaceful protests outside the migrant hotels, and put pressure on local councils to go to court to try and get the illegal immigrants out; we now know that together we can win.'
The Reform leader also vowed to challenge the use of asylum hotels in any of the 10 local authorities controlled by his party.
Asked about Mr Farage's comments, minister Mr Jarvis told Sky News: 'I've always thought that the best politicians try and bring people together, and the very worst politicians try and drive them apart.'
He said the government is looking closely at the verdict in Epping as the Home Office considers launching an appeal. He also confirmed officials are looking at alternative accommodation for up to 138 asylum seekers currently being housed at The Bell Hotel.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper made a last-minute attempt on Tuesday to halt their removal, arguing that other councils would make similar applications for migrant accommodation in their areas.
Labour is now bracing for dozens of local authorities to challenge the use of asylum hotels in their areas on similar grounds, with Home Office lawyers having warned that the decision could 'substantially impact' the government's use of the accommodation.
On Tuesday night, Conservative-run Broxbourne borough council announced it was considering pursuing its own injunction.
The council revealed it would 'take legal advice as a matter of urgency' about attempting to shut down a four-star asylum hotel in the Hertfordshire town.
Meanwhile, the leader of South Norfolk District Council, which covers the town of Diss where a hotel housing asylum seekers has also been the subject of protests, said the council would not go down the same route.
Conservative leader Daniel Elmer said the council was using planning rules to try to ensure it was families being housed in the area rather than single adult males. He said to do so, which would effectively convert the hotels into hostels, should require a change of use.
The Home Office had warned the judge that an injunction in Epping could 'interfere' with the department's legal obligations, and lawyers representing the hotel's owner argued it would set a 'precedent'.
The Bell Hotel has been at the centre of a series of protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker who was staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch suggested that the migrants housed at the hotel 'need to be moved out of the area immediately', while her shadow home secretary Chris Philp said that 'residents should never have had to fight their own government just to feel safe in their own town'.
He said: 'Local residents have every right to feel safe in their own streets and every right to object when their community is treated as a dumping ground.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
12 minutes ago
- The Sun
Epping's win over asylum hotel is glorious but I know where they'll put evicted migrants & it's bad news for some Brits
SHAZAAM! And in one glorious moment, the government's asylum seeker policies lay in complete ruins. Now, they are in BIG trouble. I say a glorious moment — and it is. For years it has quietly infuriated the ordinary people of England that asylum seekers are housed at our expense in hotels. 8 8 8 And even in some cases get gym membership, or hair extensions! And come down every morning to a full English. While you are pouring milk on your last Weetabix and wondering how to feed the kids. It's no use the lefties howling. 'No, no, it's not like that at all! And in any case most of the migrants go for the continental breakfast option. You know, croissants and stuff.' It is EXACTLY like that, as we have seen. Not to mention the stress on local communities who suddenly get a whole bunch of young men from a different culture dumped on them. Not all of the young men being as nice as pie. Anyway, Epping — where the residents protested about migrants in a local hotel — has won its court battle. As a result there will be no more migrants staying in that hotel. Victory! And now lots of other councils have followed suit. They too will be kicking out the illegals. The government is absolutely spitting feathers. The problem now, then, is where are these migrants to go. My suggestion last week was tents. Or South Georgia. Or Rockall. But the Government won't buy that idea, sadly. And this is where we need to watch them very carefully. To see what they come up with. Because it's largely in the south that migrants are held in hotels. In the north of England, because of cheap property prices, they tend to be housed in what are called Houses in Multiple Occupation. 16 arrested after protests outside Epping migrant hotel as ring of steel ramps up around TWO asylum seeker centres And so with the hotel option being closed down, it may be that the Government decides to swamp the north of England with migrants. Because it can do so cheaply. It may think (being pretty stupid) that is the only option. The local councils in the north need to shout out a big fat NO to that notion. These are the areas of the UK that already have the biggest social problems. They are also our poorest regions. The last thing these communities want or need is for boatload after boatload of asylum seekers to be dumped on their doorsteps. I think we can trust the councils run by Reform UK to oppose this idea completely. And so the Government will expect the Labour-run councils to help them out. And that means more and more problems for the Government. Because the voters will see that its Reform which says no to housing illegal asylum seekers. And the Labour Party which says yes. And that will be another few hundred thousand votes lost to Sir Keir Starmer at the next election. In the meantime, we might hope that this all sharpens the Government's concentration a little. And that they step up with more measures to stop the asylum seekers arriving here in the first place. As I said last week, a law that says anyone who tries to come here illegally will be barred from ever being allowed to stay would be the first thing to do. But I bet Labour doesn't have the gonads to do it. YES, inflation is up again. Almost double the Bank of England 's target rate. That means no reduction in interest rates. And further down the line, another cash crisis for the poorest of us. Is there any section of the economy Labour hasn't hurt? GET SET FOR AN EXODUS 8 RACHEL Reeves ' next plan to bankrupt everybody in the country is to put a tax on our homes. Don't forget, we've already been taxed on the money we spent on our homes. Now it is reported that she wants a property tax. But only at the more expensive end of the market. Anything that seems aspirational, anything that rewards hard work – the Chancellor will tax it. Soon we'll be left with a country full of skanks. Because everybody who works hard and saves dosh will have fled. DANGER DOLPHIN A DOLPHIN called Reggie has been attacking women off the Dorset coast. Especially if he sees that they are wearing a wetsuit. He swims up to them and seemingly tries to push their heads under water by jumping on their backs. I suspect it's because he's bored stiff with them making awe-stricken 'oohs' and 'ahhs' whenever he hoves into view. And taking selfies. He's basically saying: 'Go on, shove this on WhatsApp, you ditzy cow.' PANTS FOR PC VICTIM WHILE searching through Lea-Ann Sullivan's bedroom drawer, a copper found a pair of her knickers and quickly put them in his back pocket. The policeman, Marcin Zielinski, resigned from the force and has since been sent to prison. Lea-Ann is not happy, though. She said she is constantly thinking: 'What did he want them for? Why did he take them? What's he going to do with them? How many more people has he done it to?' Well, I could give Lea-Ann the answer to some of those questions. All but the last one, in fact. It is not recorded if PC Perv was allowed to keep the knickers. NAIVE ZOE SO WRONG 8 THERE was a woman on the BBC Newsnight programme who showed exactly why asylum seekers have become such a problem. She was called Zoe Gardner. Probably still is. And she thought the protests against the asylum seekers had been organised by ' Nazis and fascists'. She said a solution to the problem would be to build 'not for profit' homes for ALL of the asylum seekers. And that none of them were 'illegal'. She had a grasp of the subject you might have expected in a reasonably responsive four-year-old child. An absolute halfwit. Naive and hating of her own countrymen. And absolutely certain she was right. KEEP IT FIT FOR MOOR THE Government is proposing to ban the winter burning of heather moorland. Good. Come February the moors near me resemble a warzone. All of this activity to protect one bird – the grouse. The Moorland Association, which represents landowners, says the Government should think again. Controlled burning prevents wildfires, the association says. What rubbish. In fact, the so-called controlled burning can lead to wildfires itself, according to the RSPB. We need to reform the grouse moors. And make them fit habitats for a vast array of wildlife, not just grouse. TWISTS ON THE BORING NAME OLIVER 8 8 OK, so the most popular name for baby boys in the UK is Muhammad. But Oliver is high up on the list too. In fact, everywhere I looked in the country, Oliver was coming out near the top. I think I marginally prefer Muhammad, no offence. Know what the most popular girl's name was? Olivia. Have we lost our imaginations? We'll soon be an entire nation of Olivers and Olivias. If you're about to pup, here are a few suggestions for racy alternatives to Oliver and Olivia, with a bit of back history so you can explain the reasoning to rellies. Sputnik – to commemorate the first satellite. Gnasher – to commemorate Dennis the Menace's dog. PraiseGod Barebones – to commemorate a roundhead politician from the 17th century. Reeves – in homage to our brilliant Chancellor. Bakelite – to honour the first commercially available plastic. Nebuchadnezzar – after the Babylonian king. Ngerulmud – 'because she was conceived when we were on holiday on Palau. It's the capital, you know.'
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Labour MSP is charged over indecent images: Colin Smyth suspended by party after arrest
The Scottish Labour MSP Colin Smyth has been arrested and charged with the possession of indecent images of children. The party has suspended the former modern studies teacher, who served as Scottish Labour's top official before entering Holyrood in 2016, and withdrawn the whip. Mr Smyth said he was in 'shock' and was cooperating with the authorities. A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: 'On Tuesday, 5 August, 2025, officers executed a warrant at a property in Dumfries. 'A 52-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection with possession of indecent images. He is due to appear at Dumfries Sheriff Court at a later date.' The married father-of-two is now sitting as an Independent MSP for South Scotland. In a statement, Mr Smyth said: 'These events have come as a shock and this is a deeply stressful time. 'I am obviously cooperating fully with any inquiries and hope the matter can be resolved quickly. 'I am not able to comment further at this stage, and in the meantime I would ask that my family and friends are given privacy.' A Scottish Labour spokesman said: 'The whip has been removed from Colin Smyth MSP, pending an investigation. 'We cannot comment further on this matter while the investigation is ongoing.' It is understood the MSP was 'administratively suspended' after the party became aware of the police investigation. Mr Smyth appeared in a video with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar which was posted on social media two days after the arrest, but it has since been deleted. In the week after the arrest, Mr Smyth's own account on X continued to post pictures of him meeting people at the Dumfries & Lockerbie Agricultural Show held on August 2. On August 13, he held a meeting with the Scottish Pensioners' Forum, and on August 15 held a 'doorstep surgery' with a Dumfries Labour councillor about roads and bus services. Born in Dumfries, Mr Smyth was first elected for Labour as a Dumfries & Galloway councillor in 2007. He served as Scottish Labour general secretary from 2008 until 2012, and helped run its disastrous 2011 election campaign, when the SNP won an unprecedented majority. He was elected to Holyrood for the first time in 2016 as a list MSP for South Scotland. He backed Mr Sarwar in the 2021 Scottish Labour leadership race and was given a key role as the party's spokesman on the constitution as the SNP ramped up efforts to secure a second referendum and end the Union. Mr Smyth, whose family hails from Northern Ireland, stood unsuccessfully against the Tories in Dumfriesshire in 2021 election, but he returned to Holyrood via the regional list. In 2023, Mr Sarwar made him his champion for older people and he is currently piloting a member's Bill through Holyrood to establish a Commissioner for Older People. Mr Smyth was re-selected in April as Scottish Labour's candidate in Dumfriesshire for the 2026 Holyrood election. But his suspension means he is currently unable to stand for the party. Until this month, Mr Smyth was convener of Holyrood's economy and fair work committee and a substitute member of its public audit and standards committees. He is married with two daughters. A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service added: 'A standard prosecution report has been received by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service from Police Scotland in relation to a 52-year-old man.'
The Sun
12 minutes ago
- The Sun
Labour want to use you & your home as cash cows – so council spending can keep spiralling and migrants can keep coming
NO one can say that this government is short of ideas. It is just that every single one of them involves one thing: How to extract even more of our money. 3 3 This week alone has seen a bewildering number of proposals dangled before us, many of which revolve around using our homes as cash cows. One day we learned that Rachel Reeves is considering replacing stamp duty and council tax with a new property tax which would be levied annually on our homes, proportionate to their current value. Then it turned out that actually this new tax wouldn't necessarily mean abolishing council tax — it would run alongside it, raising money from any home sold for more than £500,000. If fact, it transpired that we could face rising council tax bills. Angela Rayner reportedly wants them ratcheted up in more prosperous areas in order to subsidise poorer ones. Then came another suggestion: That higher-value homes might lose their exemption from capital gains tax. It could mean anyone selling a family home having to pay 24 per cent of the profit they have made on their property since they bought it, possibly decades ago. The Chancellor seems to have it in her head that Britain is in the midst of a housing crisis caused by greedy Baby Boomers — those born between the mid- 1940s and 1960s. They have monopolised the housing stock, and therefore she is justified in milking them for all they are worth. It is the same mentality that saw the Bolsheviks blaming the middle classes for every ill and sending them off to the gulags after the Russian Revolution. Is Labour's National Insurance hike a tax on working people? Last year's Budget already meted out punishment for buy to let investors, who were whacked with a two per cent rise in stamp duty. Now Reeves is coming for owner-occupiers too. But it shouldn't take her too much to realise that her proposals would make the housing crisis even worse. If you levy CGT on the sales of family homes, it will act as a huge disincentive for people to sell up and downsize. Why bother, when much of the capital you hoped to release would be gobbled up by the taxman? Punitive taxes on property ownership are just a wealth tax by another name, but they would hit millions of pensioners who are asset-rich but cash-poor. Just because a house has rocketed in value since it was bought in the 1970s doesn't mean that its owner feels wealthy. It is still the same house, whatever it is worth. The real reason for the housing crisis is low rates of house building combined with high rates of migration. 'PUNISHING HOMEOWNERS' When you are building fewer than 200,000 new homes a year but allowing the population to swell by 700,000 a year, it is a recipe for acute shortage. You can't solve that by punishing homeowners. As for council tax, Reeves seems to think that homeowners are getting a free ride. True, it is wrong that in one case a £36million mansion in Kensington was found to have a lower council tax bill than a flat out near Heathrow airport. But overall, council taxpayers have been stung in recent years. According to the Taxpayers' Alliance, the average bill rose by 79 per cent in real terms, ie adjusted for inflation, between 1993/94 and 2023/24. The odd absurdity in the council tax system should not be used as an excuse to push up bills for millions of homeowners. Over the years we have faced higher and higher bills for an ever-lousier service. The more we pay, the more our bins seem to go unemptied and deeper the potholes on our streets. Councils like to blame rising social care costs for their poor finances, but that is only part of the story. 3 Other important factors are poor investments in commercial property made by many councils, and the soaring cost of over-generous local government pension schemes. Freedom of information requests to 300 councils last year revealed that a quarter of what we pay in council tax is disappearing straight into council workers' pension funds. In one case, Basingstoke and Deane Council was found to be paying more into staff pensions than it was raising in council tax. Another reason we are paying more but getting less is lousy productivity. Astonishingly, some councils think the way to right this is to move workers to a four-day week — which they foolishly think will magically lead to them producing more. I have a better idea. Shift unproductive workers on to a zero-hour week. That might just help encourage the rest to put in a bit more effort. 'FLAPPING AROUND' The Government is flapping around for ways of raising extra revenue because Labour backbenchers have made it impossible to cut public spending. Reeves' plan to trim a modest £5billion from the benefits bill was quickly reversed when Keir Starmer realised he could suffer the humiliation of a Commons defeat. That has put an end to Reeves' efforts to balance the books with a combination of spending cuts as well as tax rises. Now, we are just getting the tax rises instead. We are being hammered because Labour MPs refuse to believe there is any such thing as wasteful public spending. Sadly, there is — and it permeates every area of government. But clearly the current government isn't going to do anything about it.
