Council's urgent debate on asylum hotels cancelled

West Northamptonshire Council will no longer hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss asylum seekers staying at three hotels

An extraordinary council meeting to discuss the prospect of blocking asylum seekers from staying at three hotels has been cancelled.

Reform UK-controlled West Northamptonshire Council had planned to meet at Northampton's Guildhall on 16 September to discuss a motion put forward by Conservative councillor Daniel Lister.

Lister's motion, which proposed preventing the use of the hotels as "asylum seeker centres", was withdrawn on Wednesday.

A full council meeting was still scheduled to take place in the Guildhall on 25 September, the local authority said.

The motion followed the council saying it was "actively looking at the options" after a High Court judge decided asylum seekers should be evicted from The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, on 19 August.

However, that ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal on 29 August after a challenge by the Home Office and the hotel's owner.

On 2 September, Conservative-run Epping Forest District Council lost a further legal attempt at the appeal court to take the case to the Supreme Court.

Lister's motion had called for the local authority "to instruct, without delay, suitably qualified legal counsel to represent West Northamptonshire Council in seeking an interim injunction" against the local hotels.