Sir Keir Starmer faces a slew of legal challenges over the government’s use of asylum hotels after a council was granted a temporary injunction blocking migrants from being housed there.
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.
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.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage hailed the High Court decision in Epping as a “victory” and said he hoped it “provides inspiration to others across the country”, while the shadow home secretary argued that residents have “every right to object” to people being housed in their area.
Mr Farage indicated that the 12 councils where Reform UK was the largest party would consider legal challenges following Tuesday’s ruling.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said the local authorities would do “everything in their power to follow Epping’s lead”.
Later 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 that to do so, which would effectively convert the hotels into hostels, should require a change of use.
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.
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”. Security minister Dan Jarvis on Wednesday said the government was “looking very closely” at the decision, indicating it could appeal to keep the hotel in use.
“We will look closely at the circumstances in Epping. We're looking at contingency options to accommodate those people who will now have to move out of that hotel,” Mr Jarvis told Sky News.
Reacting to the news on X, Mr Farage said that “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 across the country,” he said.
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.”
