Labour‘s asylum policy was left in chaos after a judge ordered a controversial migrant hotel to shut.
The High Court ruling gives The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, just 24 days to close after it became the focus of violent protests.
Epping Forest District Council’s victory could open the floodgates to a series of similar legal actions against other migrant hotels across the country. Ministers scrambled to respond after an 11th-hour Home Office bid to block the action was thrown out.
Government lawyers warned the court that granting the injunction on a planning technicality ‘runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests’.
Intensifying the pressure on Labour, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he hoped it gave ‘inspiration to others across the country’.
Some 32,000 migrants are in about 210 hotels, according to the Home Office, and discontent is building.
The injunction left Sir Keir Starmer in an even more woeful position after he scrapped the Tory government’s Rwanda asylum deal, in which illegal migrants would have been sent on a one-way ticket to East Africa.
The Prime Minister’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ was already in tatters, with more than 51,000 small-boat migrants having reached Britain since the election.
The High Court ruling gives The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, just 24 days to close after it became the focus of violent protests
Some 32,000 migrants are in about 210 hotels, according to the Home Office, and discontent is building
Epping Forest District Council leader Chris Whitbread (pictured) leaving the Royal Courts of Justice after securing a temporary injunction against the use of The Bell Hotel to house asylum seekers
The legal challenge to The Bell was brought by the local council after a small-boat migrant there was accused of sexual offences.
Hadush Kebatu, from Ethiopia, was charged last month with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl of 14 to engage in sexual activity.
Eight days after he arrived in the UK, Kebatu, 41, allegedly tried to kiss a schoolgirl as she ate pizza, and the next day tried to kiss a woman in the town and put his hand on her leg.
He then encountered the girl again and tried to kiss her, Colchester Magistrates’ Court was told. Kebatu denies the offences and is in custody.
Protesters descended on the hotel following news of his arrest and court appearance, leading to violent scuffles between those opposed to the migrant hotel and ‘anti-racism’ demonstrators. Recent protests against the hotel have mainly been peaceful, with a group of women nicknamed the ‘Pink Ladies’ leading marches.
Mohammed Sharwarq, 32, a Syrian at the 80-bed hotel, has been charged with seven offences, including kissing a man on the neck on July 25.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the injunction was ‘a victory for the mums and dads in Epping who just want their children to be safe’.
She added: ‘Putting a hotel full of young, male illegal immigrants in the middle of a community like Epping was always going to lead to issues. They need to be moved immediately.
Pictured: Mother Sarah White, 40, one of the protest organisers
‘But Epping is just one of many towns struggling with asylum hotels.
‘Labour have no solution, they’re not smashing any gangs and small-boat arrivals are at record highs.’
Mr Farage said: ‘This community stood up bravely, despite being slandered as far-Right, and have won.
‘Young, undocumented males who break into the UK illegally should not be free to walk the streets. They must be detained and deported.’
Corina Gander, Tory leader of Broxbourne Borough Council in Hertfordshire, said she was considering similar action.
She added: ‘It’s just given us this massive boost and precedent that we can do something now.’
The 12 councils in which Reform UK is the largest party are also said to be exploring the prospect.
The legal action was the first to succeed in getting a migrant hotel shut down.
Epping Forest council was granted a temporary injunction by Mr Justice Eyre at the High Court in London
Government lawyers warned the court that granting the injunction on a planning technicality ‘runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests’
Epping Forest council was granted a temporary injunction by Mr Justice Eyre at the High Court in London after arguing that The Bell’s owners, Somani Hotels, broke planning rules by changing its use to house migrants.
The judge said the firm had ‘sidestepped public scrutiny and explanation’, writing in his judgement: ‘Although the defendant’s actions were not flagrant or surreptitious they were deliberate.
‘The defendant acted in good faith but chose to take its stand on the position that there was no material change of use.’
Home Office lawyers who claimed The Bell’s closure would breach asylum seekers’ ‘fundamental human rights’ failed to block the legal challenge. A hearing on a permanent injunction will take place later.
Speaking at the Royal Courts of Justice after the ruling, Epping Forest council leader Chris Whitbread said: ‘This is a decision that’s important to Epping Forest, but also important to councils up and down the country, and it shows that the Government cannot ignore planning rules.’
Welcoming the ‘fantastic news’, Sarah White, 40, one of the protest leaders, said: ‘We will start protesting with towns up and down the country. This is bigger than Epping, it is impacting the whole country.’
Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle said the Government would consider the ruling, and would close all asylum hotels by the end of this parliament.
