Councils consider legal action over asylum hotels

Councils across England are poised to take legal action to remove asylum seekers from hotels in their areas.

It follows the High Court granting a district council a temporary injunction to block asylum seekers from lodging at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

All 10 councils controlled by Reform UK will "do everything in their power to follow Epping's lead", the party's leader Nigel Farage said. A Conservative-run council in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, also said it is considering taking similar action.

Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle said the government will "continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns".

Writing in the Telegraph, Farage urged people "concerned about the threat posed by young undocumented males living in local hotels" to "follow the example of the town in Essex" in peaceful protest.

Tory-run Borough of Broxbourne Council has since become the first council to declare it is seeking legal advice "as a matter of urgency about whether it could take a similar action" over a hotel in Cheshunt.

Meanwhile, the leader of South Norfolk District Council, also run by the Conservatives, said it will not go down the same route over a hotel housing asylum seekers in Diss which has been the subject of protest.

Daniel Elmer said the council was using planning rules to ensure it was families being housed in the area rather than single adult males.

Government ministers say they are braced for other councils to follow Epping's lead.

Dame Angela added: "Our work continues to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament."

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said "the government needs to have the courage to set up and restore the Rwanda deterrent" which he said "would have stopped these crossing entirely".

"Then we wouldn't have the problem in the first place of having to accommodate tens of thousands of illegal immigrants," Philp added.

Epping saw thousands of people protest against the hotel after an asylum seeker living there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

Hadush Kebatu, 41, denies the charges against him, while a second man who resides at the hotel, 32-year-old Syrian national Mohammed Sharwarq has been charged with two counts of common assault and four of assault by beating - concerning four complainants.

Essex Police said the protests, which were also attended by those in support of asylum seekers, became violent on occasion. Sixteen people have been charged with offences relating to disturbances during the demonstrations.

Conservative-run Epping Forest District Council was granted an injunction to block migrants staying at the hotel after an eleventh-hour effort from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to have the council's case dismissed was ignored.

The district council's leader Chris Whitbread called the injunction "great news" but asked residents not to protest or "over-celebrate", having previously said the protests risked causing "irreparable harm."

"This is the beginning. It is not the end," he added in response to the ruling.

Similar cases in recent years have seen judges refuse to intervene but Epping Forest told the court its case was different as the hotel had become a safety risk, as well as a breach of planning law.

During the case, the government's lawyer said any injunction granted could act as "an impetus for further violent protests" and could "substantially interfere" with the statutory duty of the Home Office to avoid a breach of the asylum seekers' human rights.

Asylum seekers staying at the hotel must move out of The Bell Hotel by 16:00 BST on 12 September, the judge ruled.