THE Home Office will seek to appeal against the High Court’s refusal to allow it to intervene in the case of a hotel used to house asylum seekers in Epping, security minister Dan Jarvis said.
Jarvis has said closing hotels housing asylum seekers must be done “in a managed and ordered way” as he unveiled Government plans to challenge the High Court’s decision related to the Bell Hotel in Epping.
The move comes after the High Court granted Epping Forest District Council the temporary injunction on Tuesday that blocked asylum seekers from being housed in the hotel from September 12.
The local authority had sought legal action after the accommodation site had been at the centre of protests in recent weeks.
Jarvis (below) told broadcasters: “This Government will close all asylum hotels and we will clear up the mess that we inherited from the previous government.
“We’ve made a commitment that we will close all of the asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, but we need to do that in a managed and ordered way.
“And that’s why we’ll appeal this decision.”
Before judgment was handed down on Tuesday, barristers for the Home Office asked to intervene in the case, citing the “substantial impact” caused to the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, in performing her legal duties to asylum seekers.
They argued moving asylum seekers in the short period would cause “particular acute difficulties” for the Government, but their bid was dismissed.
Since the injunction was granted, councils across the country controlled by Labour, the Conservatives and Reform UK are investigating whether they could also pursue legal challenges against asylum hotels.
A wave of protests outside hotels used to temporarily house asylum seekers is expected in the coming days.
