Councils given huge boost in fight to close migrant hotels

Council chiefs are being offered support to mount legal challenges against migrant hotels after Labour's asylum accommodation plans were left in tatters.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has written to local authorities urging them to explore planning laws and apply for injunctions to close asylum hotels.

And Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick called for barristers to "join the flight" and work with "patriotic" councils and community groups calling for an end to the scandal, which is costing £5.77million a day.

It comes as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper faced growing pressure to house migrants in camps after a bombshell court ruling threw Labour's plans into disarray.

Ministers are braced for a surge in legal challenges from councils after Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction to prevent asylum seekers being housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

Mrs Badenoch said: "In the case of Epping, this challenge was brought under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

"I am encouraging Conservative council leaders to take the same steps if your legal advice supports it.

"Of course, when councils make planning decisions it is important that due process is followed, and decisions by planning councillors should be made with an open mind.

"Whether or not a particular premises requires change of use planning permission will depend on individual circumstances of the case. But it is the Labour Government which is trying to ram through such asylum hotels without consultation and without proper process.

"They are treating local residents and local councils with contempt. You may also wish to take formal advice from planning officers on the other planning enforcement options available to your council in relation to unauthorised development or change of use."

Mr Jenrick said: "Every patriotic council, whether Conservative, Reform, whatever, should follow Epping's lead and seek an injunction.

"And if you are a council or a community group and you need our help, contact my office. If you're a lawyer and you want to join the fight, contact me. Let's create a new movement, Lawyers for Borders.

"We have to work together. Our country is in a mess.

"We need to put as much pressure as possible on Keir Starmer to change the law, to deport every single illegal migrant who's here, and to close all the hotels."

Barrister Steven Barrett became the first to back Mr Jenrick's campaign, declaring on social media: "I will be supporting Lawyers for Borders.

"Laws and rules are borders - they keep us safe.

"For too long the people, all the people of this beautiful country, have been betrayed.

"No more."

Security minister Dan Jarvis admitted ministers were drawing up emergency plans to house asylum seekers in case migrant hotels were ordered to close.

He told Times Radio: "We're looking at a range of different contingency options following on from a legal ruling that took place yesterday, and we'll look closely at what we're able to do."

Asked whether other migrant hotels have the proper planning permission, Mr Jarvis said: "Well, we'll see over the next few days and weeks.

"Other local authorities will be considering whether they wish to act in the same way that Epping (Forest) District Council have.

"I think the important point to make is that nobody really thinks that hotels are a sustainable location to accommodate asylum seekers.

"That's precisely why the Government has made a commitment that, by the end of this Parliament, we would have phased out the use of them."

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called on ministers to house migrants on former military bases and asylum barges, like the Bibby Stockholm.

And Mr Philp demanded Home Secretary Ms Cooper call an emergency cabinet meeting to draw up plans to deport "every illegal immigration upon arrival".

He told the Daily Express: "Illegal immigrants who have entered the UK should not be put up in hotels that many Brits couldn't afford to stay in.

"Every illegal immigrant should instead be immediately deported upon arrival - either back to their country of origin or to a third country like Rwanda.

"This would mean repealing the Human Rights Act for immigration matters. We Conservatives even tabled this approach in Parliament a few weeks ago, but Labour voted against it.

"In the meantime, I do not think hotels should be used.

"Instead, former military sites or barges such as the Bibby Stockholm are much more suitable for accommodating illegal immigrants than expensive hotels costing hard-pressed British taxpayers billions a year."

Former Home Office minister Damian Green said the Government should "go back to the idea of camps".

Mr Green, who lost his seat in the general election last year, told the World At One: "What they should now do is actually toughen up the accommodation that we offer people to make it clear that it's a deterrent as much as anything.

"So, go back to the idea of camps, whether purpose-built Nightingale Hospital-style buildings on parts of the land that the Government owns, or using existing military camps, all those sorts of things, so that is not seen as offensively luxurious by the people who have watched this happen in their communities over the past few years."

When he was asked about the "difficulties" that have been run into when this has been attempted before, for example at Napier barracks, RAF Scampton, Wethersfield and the Penally camp, he said: "Some of them were genuine, some of them weren't.

"A lot of the problems are indeed legal problems, where the courts say you can't keep people there. And I do think the Government is going to have to confront the legal issue if they want to be effective in having a deterrent."

Sir Keir Starmer's asylum nightmare intensified on Wednesday as Labour council chiefs confirmed they are amongst those considering legal action.

Tamworth council said it would look to challenge the use of the Holiday Inn Express in the town, which was a focus of violent disorder during the Southport riots last summer.

Labour councillor Carol Dean, leader of Tamworth Borough Council, said the council did explore similar legal avenues when the Home Office first started using the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth to house asylum seekers, but did not end up pursuing them.

She said: "I want to be transparent with our community - when the Home Office first began using the hotel in 2022, we did explore similar legal avenues. However, we did not pursue this route at the time because temporary injunctions, while initially granted in other cases nationally, were not ultimately upheld by the courts.

"The situation at Epping Forest represents a potentially important legal precedent, and we are carefully assessing what this might mean for our circumstances here in Tamworth."

Cllr Paula Basnett, the leader of Labour-ran Wirral council, said: "Like many other local authorities, we have concerns about the Home Office's practice of placing asylum seekers in hotels without consultation or regard to local planning requirements.

"We are actively considering all options available to us to ensure that any use of hotels or other premises in Wirral is lawful and does not ride roughshod over planning regulations or the wishes of our communities.

"If necessary, we will not hesitate to challenge such decisions in order to protect both residents and those seeking refuge."

Conservative-run Broxbourne Council in Hertfordshire has said it was taking legal advice "as a matter of urgency", while Tory-run East Lindsey District Council in Lincolnshire said officers are investigating and "will take appropriate action".

The Cabinet member responsible for planning on Broxbourne Borough Council revealed they are speaking to Epping Forest District Council to take action against migrant hotels in their area.

Cllr Paul Mason said: "Over the last couple of years, we've had incidents where the police have been called, where some of the people in the hotels have been kicking up and rioting over the quality of the food, which is being paid for by the taxpayer.

"Personally, I think it's an absolute national disgrace that we're borrowing money to pay for people that are coming over, putting them up in luxury hotels and funding it.

"We are really determined to do something. It's just not good enough."

Reform UK-led councils - West Northamptonshire Council and Staffordshire County Council - also said the authorities would look at the options available after the High Court ruling.

Ian Cooper, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said: "The control and protection of our country's borders is a national issue, but the impact of central government policy is felt in communities across Staffordshire."

The Home Office had warned the judge that an injunction could "interfere" with the department's legal obligations, and lawyers representing the hotel's owner argued it would set a "precedent".

Craig Leyland, the leader of East Lindsey District Council in Lincolnshire, said: "We have always been clear to the Government that we stand strongly against the use of hotels in our district by the Home Office for those seeking asylum. We now only have one hotel in such use."

The Conservative councillor added: "I have followed the case by Conservative-run Epping Forest District Council and yesterday's judgment with great interest.

"I have asked officers to investigate and understand this case and will take appropriate action once we understand if there are any similarities that we can act on."

A Labour Party spokesperson, responding to Kemi Badenoch's letter to Tory councils on asylum hotels, said: "This is desperate and hypocritical nonsense from the architects of the broken asylum system.

"Under the Tories, the number of asylum hotels in use rose as high as 400. There are now half that and there are now 20,000 fewer asylum seekers in hotels than at their peak under the Tories.

"Kemi Badenoch's latest pathetic stunt only shows that the Conservatives didn't have an asylum plan while in power, and they still don't have one now. The public will see through it.

"This Labour government is fixing the Tories' mess. We've removed over 35,000 people with no right to be in the UK and are putting in the hard graft to smash the gangs running the vile small boats trade - with more international returns deals signed to deport even more."