The Epping injunction is a gift to Labour’s opponents

An Essex council has been granted a High Court injunction to stop a local hotel from housing asylum seekers.

So what? Labour’s immigration plans are now under threat. The ban is temporary and it is possible it won’t set a legal precedent elsewhere. But the thousands of demonstrators who have gathered outside the hotel in recent weeks will feel vindicated, and the decision risks

• fuelling further protests that may turn violent;
• encouraging other councils to seek injunctions; and
• pushing the government into a political hole that benefits Nigel Farage and Reform.

Locus operandi. Roughly 140 male asylum seekers are staying at Epping’s Bell Hotel, run by a company that also owns hotels in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. A lawyer for the group told the High Court that people had lived there for a year and a half. But it became the centre of protests last month after a resident was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

On site. A series of demonstrations outside the hotel has led to the arrest of more than two dozen people for criminal disorder. Far-right activists have orchestrated some of the protests, even if they do not appear to be the dominant group on the ground. Last month Essex Police denied unsubstantiated claims that they had “bussed” counter-protesters to the scene.

Elsewhere unrest has spread to other hotels thought to house or be poised to house asylum seekers, such as the Britannia International in Canary Wharf. For now demonstrations have been several degrees cooler than last summer’s riots, with arrest numbers much lower.

Injunction. Earlier this month Epping Forest district council brought a High Court challenge that argued placing asylum seekers in the Bell Hotel was a “breach of planning permission”. On Tuesday the judge sided with the council despite the Home Office warning of the pressure it would put on the “asylum estate”. A lawyer for the hotel group said an injunction would cause “hardship” for those inside the Bell, who have watched the protests from open windows.

Implication. Following the interim injunction, a small crowd gathered outside the hotel in triumph. The Home Office plans to appeal but has under a month to find new accommodation. Wherever the asylum seekers are placed next will become an obvious target for fresh protests.

Meanwhile the government faces fresh pressure to accelerate a move away from asylum hotels, which were first used by the Conservatives during the pandemic to manage a backlog in claims. Labour has pledged to get rid of them by 2029.

By the numbers:

210 – hotels housing asylum seekers, down from a peak of 402 but a negligible reduction on the 213 that were being used in July last year

32,000 – asylum seekers living in these hotels, a fall of 6,000 since the start of the year but slightly higher than when Labour took office

£2.1 billion – spent by the Home Office on hotels between April 2024 and March 2025, a decrease of nearly a third and less than 10 per cent of overall department spending

No room for complacency. Although small boat arrivals account for a tiny percentage of overall entry figures, the government will also have to find housing for the 50,000 irregular migrants who have crossed the Channel this year. The political mood has superseded the reality that only 35 per cent of those in asylum accommodation are placed in hotels.

Voice of the people. More than half of Britons regard immigration as one of the top three issues the country faces, with only the economy coming close on people’s list of concerns. The last time this figure was so high was during the EU referendum in 2016.

Taking advantage. Labour should have no expectation that the public’s interest will wane any time soon. At least a dozen hotel protests are planned for the bank holiday weekend. On Tuesday a Conservative-run council said it was considering whether to seek an injunction against a hotel housing asylum seekers in the Hertfordshire town of Broxbourne.

In the rearview is Nigel Farage, whose party is polling nine points ahead of Labour. He has said that the 12 councils controlled by Reform will consider legal challenges of their own.

What’s more… Councils which do not hold responsibility for planning permission may have limited success with injunction applications. This won’t stop them trying if it is deemed to be politically expedient.