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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 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, Essex.
On Friday, Yvette Cooper said ministers are working to close hotels housing asylum seekers “as swiftly as possible” as part of an “orderly” programme that avoids creating problems for other areas. Cooper reiterated Labour’s manifesto commitment to end the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers. She also accused the previous Conservative government of presiding over a “chaotic and disorderly situation” in 2022 that saw “140 extra hotels were opened in the space of six months because they lost control of the system”.
Heather Whitbread, Conservative councillor for the Epping West and Rural ward, hit back at Yvette Cooper’s warning, saying that the court ruling was “a decision on a planning point”, accusing the hotel owner of breaking planning law and insisting it was the council’s job to enforce regulations.
The Home Office’s plan to appeal against the high court’s Epping asylum hotel ruling “is completely wrong”, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp has said. He accused the government of not “listening to the public or to the courts”.
Foreign secretary David Lammy has described the declaration of famine in Gaza City as “utterly horrifying” as he accused the Israeli government of causing a “man-made catastrophe”. Lammy also repeated calls for “an immediate ceasefire, to enable aid delivery at maximum speed and at the scale required”, including a halt to military operations in Gaza City.
Lammy has joined 20 other foreign ministers around the world in condemning Israeli plans to build an illegal settlement on the West Bank, with the Foreign Office summoning the Israeli ambassador to communicate the government’s displeasure. The foreign secretary co-signed a joint statement on Thursday criticising the so-called E1 plan, a 3,400-home settlement that critics say would divide the West Bank in half.
Dozens of protests outside hotels used as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers are expected over the weekend across England amid mounting tensions over the issue. Anti-migrant protests and counter-demonstrations held by Stand Up to Racism are expected on Friday outside hotels believed to be used to house asylum seekers, including in Bournemouth, Cardiff and Leeds, with more expected on Saturday.
Workers at the UK’s third-largest steelworks in South Yorkshire have been assured they will receive their pay for August as well as unpaid pension contributions, after a government-appointed special manager took over the collapsed company. Liberty Steel’s main British business, Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), collapsed into administration on Thursday afternoon after a high court judge ruled that it was insolvent and that its owner, the metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, had no prospects of repaying debts of several hundred million pounds.
The Conservatives have lost overall control of Surrey county council after losing out to Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats in two separate byelection results. The Lib Dems gained the Hinchley Wood, Claygate, and Oxshott seat from the Tories, while Reform took the Addlestone seat in yesterday’s byelections.
Scottish Conservative MSP Jeremy Balfour has resigned from the party and will sit as an independent. In his resignation letter to party leader Russell Findlay, Balfour said the Scottish Conservatives had “fallen into the trap of reactionary politics” and that a “positive, proactive agenda for real change” had been rejected. A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: “We are disappointed to read these comments but grateful for Jeremy’s service and wish him well.”
Deep problems at the UK’s statistics agency with the quality of its data are piling pressure on officials in the run-up to the autumn budget, sources have told the Guardian. Staff at the Treasury and its independent spending watchdog are struggling to get a clear picture of the economy because of troubles at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) with producing reliable numbers.
GMB has urged the government to “take a stake” in the future of Liberty Steel after assuming control of its Speciality Steels UK (SSUK) division. Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB national officer, told BBC Breakfast that recent developments show why public ownership or greater government control is needed. Separately, the mayor of South Yorkshire said the government taking control of the UK’s third-largest steelworks was “good news” but that a conclusion should not be rushed.
Elon Musk’s company, Tesla, should have its application to supply energy to UK homes blocked on national security grounds, Ed Davey has told ministers. The Liberal Democrat leader argued that giving the electric car manufacturer a foothold in the British energy market would be “a gravely concerning move considering Elon Musk’s repeated interference in UK politics”.
Baby food manufacturers have been given 18 months to improve the quality of their products in England, amid mounting concerns that leading brands are nutritionally poor. The new voluntary guidance from the government calls for a reduction in sugar and salt levels in food for infants and toddlers.
Nick Gibb, the former Conservative education minister, defended resits for students who fail to pass their maths and English GCSEs after the policy came under fire following new data showing that just 17% of those forced to retake had managed to achieve a grade 4 or above this year. The policy for pupils in England dates back to Gibb’s time as education minister.
Ministers have announced a clampdown on people who continue to claim child benefit payments even though they have moved abroad, in measures that could save the taxpayer £350m over five years. The government said 2,600 people who had left the UK but still claimed the benefit had already been removed from the welfare system.
Diane Abbott has said she advised her longtime friend Jeremy Corbyn not to launch a new political party because she believed it would struggle to make inroads under the first-past-the-post system. Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said last month she would not be leaving Labour in favour of Corbyn’s as yet unnamed party, despite the pair having worked closely together in the past.
A professor of public policy has said managing relationships between the UK government and Holyrood has to be a priority in the upcoming Scottish election – especially if it results in a minority administration. Speaking at a Festival of Politics event at the Scottish parliament about expectations and concerns for the Holyrood poll next May, Prof Nicola McEwen said that relationships across parties have become increasingly strained.
Civil servants in a government department are to strike in a dispute over office closures, recruitment and attendance policies. The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said more than 1,100 of its members in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will take industrial action on 1 September. Smaller groups of union members will strike from 2 to 25 September.
Scots are being urged to use water more efficiency in a bid to protect resources and maintain normal water levels. Scottish Water said August was drier than normal, and it followed the country’s driest spring in 70 years. It said reservoir levels across Scotland are down by 2% to 73% this week, 9% lower than the average of 82% for this time of year.
Updated
Closing asylum hotels must be 'orderly', says Cooper as government plans to appeal against Epping hotel court ruling
Closing asylum hotels must be “orderly” rather than through “piecemeal court decisions”, the home secretary has said as the government plans to appeal against a court ruling blocking the use of an Epping hotel.
The Home Office will seek to appeal against the high court’s refusal to allow it to intervene in the case, and to then further appeal against the temporary injunction.
On Friday, Yvette Cooper said ministers are working to close hotels housing asylum seekers “as swiftly as possible” as part of an “orderly” programme that avoids creating problems for other areas, reports the PA news agency.
Cooper said:
We agree with communities across the country that all asylum hotels need to close, including the Bell hotel, and we are working to do so as swiftly as possible as part of an orderly, planned and sustained programme that avoids simply creating problems for other areas or local councils as a result of piecemeal court decisions or a return to the kind of chaos which led to so many hotels being opened in the first place.
That is the reason for the Home Office appeal in this case, to ensure that going forward, the closure of all hotels can be done in a properly managed way right across the country – without creating problems for other areas and local councils.
Cooper reiterated Labour’s manifesto commitment to end the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers. She also accused the previous Conservative government of presiding over a “chaotic and disorderly situation” in 2022 that saw “140 extra hotels were opened in the space of six months because they lost control of the system”.
