Government sources confirmed they are appealing the High Court’s decision to refuse Home Secretary Yvette Cooper the right to intervene in the case.
Labour is desperately fighting to keep The Bell Hotel open for migrants, it has emerged.
Ministers on Friday confirmed they are appealing the High Court’s decision to refuse Home Secretary Yvette Cooper the right to intervene in the Epping legal case.
Insisting Labour wants to close asylum hotels, Security Minister Dan Jarvis defended the controversial move by saying it must be done “in a managed and ordered way”.
Judge Mr Justice Eyre granted a temporary injunction preventing asylum seekers from being housed in the hotel in Epping because it did not have planning permission.
Community leaders and politicians declared Tuesday’s bombshell legal ruling a “victory for the mums and dads”.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “It is completely wrong that the Labour government is taking legal action to keep open the Bell Hotel. The government isn’t listening to the public or to the courts. Instead of trying to keep illegal immigrants in expensive hotels the Conservatives would immediately deport all illegal arrivals and ensure towns like Epping are never put in this position again.
“In the nine months before the election Conservatives closed 200 hotels. If that had continued there wouldn’t be any asylum hotels now – but instead the number of asylum seekers in hotels have gone up since the election under Labour.
“This problem is being caused because 2025 so far is the worst year ever for illegal immigrants crossing the channel. Most are young men who have paid people smugglers to illegally enter the UK. Labour has lost control of our borders and communities up and down the country are paying the price.”
Holly Whitbread, in whose Epping West and Rural ward the Bell Hotel sits, branded the Home Office’s appeal bid “deeply disappointing”.
The councillor, who is responsible for finance and economic development at Epping Forest District Council, said: “It was dreadful when the Government tried to intervene in the case on Tuesday.
“Obviously, they had time to get their ducks in a row and they were hugely disorganised, and then to take this further action today is deeply disappointing.
“I hope that the Court of Appeal will make the right decision in upholding the decision of the High Court.
“It really just continues to show the contempt that the Government have shown for our community here in Epping for a number of weeks, and beyond that when they first reopened the hotel a number of months ago.
“They’ve completely ignored community concerns. They seem to have no care for the impact this hotel is having on our community.”
Security Minister Mr Jarvis said the Government would appeal against the decision on Friday, which if successful would open the way for a wider appeal against a temporary injunction blocking the Home Office from using the Bell Hotel as asylum accommodation.
Mr Jarvis said closing hotels housing asylum seekers must be done “in a managed and ordered way”.
He told broadcasters: “This Government will close all asylum hotels and we will clear up the mess that we inherited from the previous government.
“We’ve made a commitment that we will close all of the asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, but we need to do that in a managed and ordered way.
“And that’s why we’ll appeal this decision.”
Asked whether he was “worried about any copycat protests” following the High Court’s decision this week, the security minister told broadcasters: “We’ve made a very clear commitment that we’re going to close all of the asylum hotels.
“That was a manifesto commitment that we stood on and we will honour.
“We’re clearing up the legacy that we inherited from the previous government but the closures of these hotels need to be done in an ordered and managed way.”
Somani Hotels, the owner of the Bell Hotel in Epping, will appeal against a court order blocking the use of the hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers, the company’s solicitors have said.
Protesters have fought to close The Bell in Epping (Image: Getty)
The High Court ruling threw Labour’s asylum accommodation plans into turmoil by putting the future of more than 200 hotels at risk.
Councils across the country are plotting similar legal bids to close migrant hotels.
The Home Office had warned the High Court that a temporary injunction could have a devastating impact on its asylum accommodation plans.
Barristers, acting on behalf of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, warned of a surge of “similar applications made elsewhere that would then aggravate pressures on the asylum estate”.
Injunction applications could become a “new norm adopted by local authorities”, they added.
The Home Office lawyers also suggested that granting the injunction “runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests”.
Home Office figures – covering Labour’s first full year in office – show there are still 32,059 migrants living in hotels.
This is up 8% from 29,585 in the year to June 2024.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said of Keir Starmer‘s first year in Goverment: “Britain has become a magnet for illegal immigration and a playground for people smugglers.
“The truth on asylum hotels is just as damning.
“Arrivals are up, asylum hotels are bursting, billions are being wasted, crime is climbing, and it’s our local communities who are carrying the burden.
“Britain deserves a Government that will defend its borders and that requires decisive action.
“Keir Starmer has had a year in power. His shameful record is more small boats, more immigrants in hotels and fewer removals. He is weak and he is failing the British people.
“A Government that cannot stop the crossings, close the hotels, or deport illegal arrivals has forfeited the right to claim it is defending Britain.”
The sharp increase was fuelled by a surge in migrants lodging claims after arriving on work and study visas and failed asylum seekers trying their luck after being rejected in Europe, experts said.
Home Office figures show 14,800 people claimed asylum after arriving on a student visa.
Another 12,200 arrived on a work visa, prompting more fears of widespread abuse.
Home Office sources have confirmed they have identified it as a “new route” into the UK and are scrambling to close the loophole.
The most common nationalities among asylum applicants in the year to June 2025 were Pakistani (10.1% of the total), Afghan (7.5%), Iranian (7.0%) and Eritrean (6.7%).
Shocking analysis revealed 90% of Pakistanis claimed asylum after travelling to the UK on a valid visa, while 87% of Bangladeshi applicants travelled to the UK legally.
A further 71% of Indian asylum applicants used a visa to travel to the UK, highlighting widespread fears over the abuse of the UK’s generosity.
By contrast, 84% of Afghans who claimed asylum arrived by a small boat. Some 89% of Eritrean applicants arrived the same way.
The asylum crisis cost taxpayers £4.76 billion a year in 2024/25, down from a record £5.38bn in 2023/24.
But the number of Channel migrants being deported under Labour is falling.
Some 2,330 people have been deported during Keir Starmer‘s first full year in office, compared to 2,516 in the final year of the Conservative Government.
In total, just 6,313 small boat migrants have been returned since the crisis began in 2018.
Shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam said: “Labour talk tough on smashing the gangs and stopping the boats, but the reality is returns are far too low and Starmer’s government is weakening the infrastructure needed.
“Slashing investment at Manston migrant processing centre from £2.7 billion to under £1 billion and delaying upgrades until 2029 leaves Britain without the detention and deportation capacity we desperately need. Without proper facilities, migrants can’t be detained and removed. That’s why returns are so abysmal on Labour’s watch.
“Instead of fixing the system, they are hollowing it out, leaving taxpayers footing the bill for hotels and communities paying the price.
“Unless Labour reverse course and invest in real deportation capacity, Britain will remain powerless to control its borders.”
