Epping asylum hotel latest: Appeal judges to rule on overturning injunction after migration protests – UK Times

Below you can see some pictures from a range of the protests in Epping, outside The Bell Hotel.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has weighed in on the Epping hearing expected later today, predicting that “all of England” could descend into protests.

Retweeting a far-right, English-language Swedish media influencer who claimed that the Home Office’s challenging of the Epping injunction was evidence that the government was prioritising the rights of asylum seekers over locals, Musk wrote: “As goes Epping, so goes all of England.”

Musk has tweeted or retweeted at least four times in the past 24 hours about the situation in Epping. Sharing a tweet from Rupert Lowe MP, now an independent politician after being kicked out of Reform earlier this year, about Epping protests, Musk wrote: “A government against its people.”

If the Home Office is successful in its bid to keep the Bell Hotel open, that outcome would be marginally better for the government as it would prevent this process being repeated across the country and ultimately undermining the entire asylum system.

But it is far from a victory, as ministers will then be facing heavy criticism for Reform for successfully fighting a battle to keep a migrant hotel open – a terrible look for a government that promised to close them all down.

Nigel Farage is expected to hold a press conference on Monday, in which we will no doubt see him whip up furious reaction to the current state of affairs – no matter the outcome on Friday.

One of the residents of the Bell Hotel in Epping, at the centre of today’s ruling, is on trial after being accused of sexually assaulting a teenager.

Much of the protests outside the Bell stemmed from anger towards this charge, though it was unrelated to the Epping legal challenge, which focused on issues with planning permission.

Below, you can read the latest on the residents’ trial.

Three Court of Appeal judges are expected to issue a decision in the Home Office’s bid to overturn an injunction against the use of an asylum seeker hotel in Epping.

A High Court judge had given Epping Forest District Council an interim injunction against the hotel’s use, ordering that the 138 asylum seekers living at The Bell Hotel in Essex be moved out by 12 September.

The owners of the hotel, Somani Hotels Ltd, and the Home Office have sought to reverse that decision, and applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to challenge the ruling.

The Court of Appeal will today decide if they should be allowed to appeal the ban. If judges side with the Home Office, it is likely that they will overturn the order to move the asylum seekers out of The Bell Hotel – at least until the appeal case is heard later in the year.

If judges refuse the appeal then the injunction will stand and ministers will have to find a new home for the 138 asylum seekers living at the property.

Other councils have said they are considering their legal options in light of Epping council’s success at the High Court. If the Court of Appeal sides with Epping Forest then it is more likely similar challenges could be issued by other councils looking to close down asylum hotels in their area.

However each case will be specific to the local area and depend on the planning applications that have or have not been made by each of the hotel’s owners.

While Epping Council has launched it’s legal challenge, many other councils are pursuing or considering their own arguments.

Below, we have a list of the 18 councils who have publicly said they are looking at legal options.

• Epping (Conservative)
• Broxbourne (Conservative)
• West Northamptonshire (Reform)
• Stevenage (Labour)
• Tamworth (Labour)
• South Norfolk (Labour)
• Spelthorne (No overall control)

Councils considering legal action

• East Lindsey (No overall control)
• Wirral (Labour)
• Blackpool (Labour)
• Antrim and Newtownabbey (No overall control)
• Derby (Labour)
• Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (No overall control)
• Hillingdon (Conservative)
• Rushmoor (Labour)
• Falkirk (No overall control)
• Peterborough (No overall control)
• Reigate and Banstead (Conservative)

*There may be additional councils considering action, as the situation remains ongoing.

At the centre of today’s news is the High Court ruling from 19 August that granted a temporary injunction against The Bell Hotel in Essex from housing asylum seekers.

All 80 rooms in the hotel have been occupied by nearly 140 male asylum seekers since April, but the injunction ruling means they will all have to be moved out by the Home Office by 4pm on 12 September.

If that ruling is overturned today, the asylum seekers will be allowed to stay.

Epping Forest District Council issued their legal challenge against the Home Office and Somani Hotels, which runs the Bell, on 15 August, receiving a ruling four days later.

It followed weeks of unrest and intermittent violence in the area from angry protesters after one of the hotel’s inhabitants was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a teenage girl. He denies those charges.

Epping Council’s case, however, was unrelated to this. Their argument was that converting a functioning hotel into longer-term asylum accommodation was a “material change of use”, one that should have required planning permission.

Mr Justice Eyre, who ruled in their favour in the 11th hour despite pleas from the Home Office that such a finding would set a dangerous precedent, found that this failure outweighed the duty of the government to provide accommodation to people seeking asylum with no other way of supporting themselves.

If you want to read Mr Justice Eyre’s full decision, follow this link.

The immediate closure of asylum hotels could lead to migrants “living destitute in the streets”, a Government minister said, as he warned against a “disorderly discharge”.

The Labour government, led by the Home Office, are adamant that any ruling in favour of immediately banning the use of hotels to house asylum seekers could set a dangerous precedent, and that the ending of this practice should be done gradually, as planned.

Health minister Stephen Kinnock told Sky News: “What we don’t want to have is a disorderly discharge from every hotel in the country, which would actually have far worse consequences than what we currently have, in terms of the impact that would have on asylum seekers potentially living destitute in the streets.”

Pressed on where the migrants would be moved to if The Bell Hotel in Epping were to close, Mr Kinnock said: “We’ve got a whole range of options – disused warehouses, disused office blocks, disused military barracks.”

But he added that efforts to find a solution would be much “more effective” if they are able to manage the closure of hotels slowly.

Read our piece below on all the latest on the Court of Appeal ruling due later today.