The High Court’s ruling that asylum seekers must be moved out of the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, leaves Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, with a nasty headache. The small boats keep on coming and, under the law, asylum seekers must be housed somewhere while their cases are assessed.
The Home Office was behind the curve on the legal action by Tory-led Epping Forest District Council, issuing a last-minute plea to no avail. There is gloom among ministers, who fear a dangerous precedent has been set; they are privately bemused that the ruling was based on the hotel owner’s failure to obtain a change of use permission under planning regulations. Ministers fear this will encourage more protests outside other asylum hotels, creating an opening for the far right.
