A fresh wave of protests is planned after the Government won a court challenge, which means asylum seekers can continue to be housed at an Essex hotel.
In an added headache for ministers, a group of councils meanwhile reportedly plans to press ahead with separate legal challenges aimed at ending the use of hotels to accommodate migrants in their areas.
On Friday, the Court of Appeal overturned Epping Forest District Councilâs interim injunction, which would have prevented the Bell Hotel, Epping, from being used as an asylum hotel.
Some 138 asylum seekers would no longer have been able to be housed there beyond September 12 under the injunction.
But the Home Office and Somani Hotels, which owns the Bell Hotel, challenged the High Court ruling.
Three appeal judges described the previous judgment as âseriously flawed in principleâ and said the hotel could continue to be used to house migrants.
The High Courtâs original ruling followed weeks of protests in Essex after an asylum seeker housed at the Bell Hotel was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl last month. He has denied the charges.
The courtroom victory by ministers triggered criticism from the Governmentâs political opponents, while protesters insisted they would now hold regular demonstrations against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.
A group calling themselves the Great British National Protest said they would hold demonstrations on Saturday and for every âforeseeableâ Saturday, including outside the Home Office in Westminster.
Epping Forest District Council said it is âruling nothing outâ following the Court of Appeal decision, including taking its bid for a temporary injunction to the Supreme Court.
At least 13 other councils are considering pressing ahead with legal action over the use of asylum hotels in their areas, according to The Times.
Among them are several Labour-run authorities, the newspaper said.
On Friday night, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch urged Tory councils to pursue such legal action.
âLocal communities should not pay the price for Labourâs total failure on illegal immigration.
âKeir Starmer has shown that he puts the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people who just want to feel safe in their towns and communities,â Mrs Badenoch said.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also criticised the decision, claiming the Government had âused ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) against the people of Eppingâ.
Home Office lawyers had argued that the Governmentâs duties towards asylum seekers under the ECHR were âfundamentally differentâ from the local councilâs planning responsibilities.
Reacting to the ruling, Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle said the Government was committed to closing all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament.
But she added that it appealed against the High Court ruling so that hotel use can be ended in a âcontrolled and orderly wayâ.
Protests took place outside the Bell Hotel on Friday night following the Court of Appeal ruling.
Essex Police put in place two dispersal orders to ensure protesters left the areas they were gathered before too late in the night.
Three men were arrested during the evening, Essex Police said: one man on suspicion of violent disorder, a second on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, and a third man on suspicion of drink driving after a car was driven on the wrong side of the road towards a police cordon.
