Sir Keir Starmer has been warned that Labour must take decisive action to address the migrant crisis or risk losing voters to Reform UK after the government won a significant court challenge over asylum hotels.
Lord Falconer, who served under former prime minister Sir Tony Blair, backed the governmentâs decision to fight an injunction which would have seen asylum seekers moved out of the protest-hit Bell Hotel in Epping, but said people were demanding action to close asylum hotels.
He told BBC Radio 4âs Today: âWeâve obviously got to move forward in relation to closing the hotels and also stopping the crossings.
âThe government always has the burden of doing whatâs possible and the government is doing the right thing in relation to it, but thereâs a lot more to do, and if we donât, as a government, do it, then youâll see those opinion polls raised yet further for Reform, because they donât have the burden of having to be practical.â
His intervention comes after Court of Appeal judges revoked a ban on housing asylum seekers at the hotel, which has been plagued by unrest. They said the move would have âobvious consequencesâ on the governmentâs duty to house asylum seekers and would âincentiviseâ other councils to seek similar legal action if allowed.
Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) had succesfully sought an injunction against the use of the hotel for migrants after a series of violent protests at the site, sparked by the arrest of a resident over alleged sexual offences.
If the Epping injunction had not been overturned on Friday, some 138 asylum seekers would no longer have been able to be housed there beyond September 12.
But the court victory by the Home Office and the Bellâs owners Somani Hotels triggered criticism from the governmentâs political opponents, while protesters said 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.
Reformâs Nigel Farage responded to the news, saying: âIllegal migrants have more rights than British people under Starmer.â
Reform UK has consistently led in opinion polls since the spring, with the latest BMG poll for The I putting them on 35 per cent, 15 points ahead of Labour.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of âusing the courts against the British publicâ.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called on Conservative councils to continue to seek similar injunctions against hotels in their areas, with several already confirming they would take legal action
Meanwhile, Epping Forest District Council said it was âruling nothing outâ, including taking their 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.
Shane Yerrell, Tory councillor for EFDC, said the government should âhang their heads in shameâ. But the leader, Chris Whitbread, called for calm following the ruling, saying: âThereâs been peaceful protests and thereâs been non-peaceful protests outside the hotel. You saw that as part of our case, but I just call for residents to be calm.â He said he was âreally concerned for the future of the townâ.
Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle MP said that ministers had sought to appeal the injunction so that hotels could be âexited in a controlled and orderly wayâ. .
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, had argued at the Court of Appeal that the Epping hotel injunction should not stand because it would disrupt her statutory duty to house vulnerable asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.
In written arguments, the Home Office said that âthe relevant public interests in play are not equalâ, seeking to contrast the disruption in Epping with the wider impact on the governmentâs need to house asylum seekers.
In their judgment, Lord Justice Bean, Lady Justice Nicola Davies and Lord Justice Cobb, said this comparison âabout a hierarchy of rightsâ was âunattractiveâ.
However, they agreed that High Court judge had failed to consider âthe significant practical challenge of relocating a large number of asylum seekers in a short space of timeâ.
Somani Hotels Ltd, which owns The Bell Hotel, said it had been âcaught in the middle of a much wider debate on the treatment of asylum seekersâ and asked that âall associated with The Bell Hotel are left alone to continue to support the governmentâs asylum plans as best they canâ.
Seeking to lift the ban, Home Office lawyers said that maintaining the injunction would risk more disorder. They also argued that âthe available asylum estate is subject to incredibly high levels of demandâ, and that the loss of 152 bed spaces if the Epping hotel was closed would lead to âconsiderable difficultiesâ.
The latest Home Office data shows there were 32,059 asylum seekers in UK hotels at the end of June.
This was up from 29,585 at the same point a year earlier, when the Conservatives were still in power, but down slightly on the 32,345 figure at the end of March.
The appeal by the hotel owners and the Home Office comes in the same week as a resident at the hotel, Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, has been on trial accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl last month.
Kebatu, who denies the charges, told Colchester Magistratesâ Court on Wednesday that he did not attempt to kiss the girl because he is ânot a wild animalâ.
Another man who was living at the site, Syrian national Mohammed Sharwarq, has separately been charged with seven offences.
Police have arrested 25 people in relation to disorder at protests at the Epping hotel, with 16 charged with criminal offences.
