Becky Morton
Political reporter
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Asylum seekers moved out of a hotel in Epping should not be put in other hotels, flats or house-shares, the Conservatives have said.
It comes after the High Court granted a council a temporary injunction to block migrants from being housed at The Bell Hotel in Essex.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called for illegal migrants to be immediately deported but in the meantime he said alternative accommodation such as former military sites or barges should be used.
The government has pledged to end the use of migrant hotels by 2029, by cutting small boat crossings and speeding up decisions on asylum claims.
However, pressed over where asylum seekers would be housed instead, Home Office Minister Dan Jarvis would not give specific examples.
“There’s likely to be a range of different arrangements in different parts of the country,” he told the BBC.
Jarvis said the government was “looking at contingency options” for housing those being moved out of The Bell Hotel, adding that ministers never thought hotels were “a long-term, sustainable solution”.
In June, ministers said the government was looking at buying tower blocks and former student accommodation to house migrants.
But the High Court ruled about 140 asylum seekers must be moved out of the Bell Hotel by 12 September, giving the government limited time to secure alternative housing.
Meanwhile, a number of councils across England are poised to follow Epping by taking legal action in an attempt to remove asylum seekers from their areas.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said all 12 councils controlled by his party will “do everything in their power to follow Epping’s lead”.
He urged people concerned about the impact of asylum hotels in their area to protest peacefully to put pressure on their councillors to take action.
A Conservative-run council in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, also said it was considering similar legal action; and the leader of Reform UK-led West Northamptonshire Council said it was “considering the implications” of the judgement.
If successful, further legal challenges have the potential to pile more pressure on the government to find alternative housing options for migrants.
In a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Philp said people were “furious” about the use of hotels to house migrants, while other accommodation options like apartments were “sorely needed by young people”.
He urged the government to hold an emergency cabinet meeting to establish plans to deport all illegal immigrants upon arrival.
Philp added that the previous Conservative government’s plan to send some migrants to Rwanda, which was stalled by legal challenges, would have made this possible.
He also called on the government to commit that none of those currently housed in The Bell Hotel in Epping would be moved into other hotels, houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), apartments or social housing.
Traditionally asylum seekers were housed in long-term private rental accommodation but under the Conservatives the government increasingly relied on hotels, which tend to be more expensive.
The Tories later sought to use ex-military bases as an alternative, including a former RAF station at Wethersfield in Essex, which has been home to hundreds of asylum seekers since July 2023.
But such plans have encountered strong local opposition.
The Bibby Stockholm barge off the coast of Dorset, which the Tories used to house asylum seekers, was closed last year after Labour took power.
Some local residents were concerned about the impact on local services, while refugee groups criticised the conditions on board.
There has also been opposition to using shared houses as this can put more pressure on local housing supply.
According to the latest Home Office figures, 32,345 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels at the end of March, down 15% from the end of December.
Numbers hit a peak of 56,042 in 2023 under the Conservatives.
The Home Office’s annual accounts show £2.1bn was spent on hotel accommodation between April 2024 and March 2025, down from £3bn, the previous year.
In recent years, other councils have taken legal action in an attempt to close asylum hotels in their areas but in previous cases judges have refused to intervene.
Conservative-run Epping Forest District Council successfully argued its case was different as the hotel had become a safety risk, as well as a breach of planning law by ceasing to be a normal hotel.
The judge ruled in favour of the council, which made the case there had been “evidenced harms” related to protests around the hotel, which had led to violence and arrests.
For other councils to follow suit they would have to show the High Court evidence of local harm.
Most Reform-led councils do not have responsibility for planning permission, which may limit their ability to launch legal challenges.
Home Office lawyers had argued the ruling could “substantially impact” the government’s ability to house the thousands of asylum seekers living in 210 hotels across the UK if other councils pursued similar action.
They also warned that the interim injunction risked “acting as an impetus for further violent protests” around other asylum accommodation.
Councillor Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association, said it was taking stock of the injunction, adding: “We continue to stress to government that the Home Office must work much more closely with councils regarding asylum accommodation decisions and on improving the current asylum system in the long-term.”
The case returns in October, when a judge will have to decide whether The Bell Hotel has unlawfully changed how it is being used.
Epping saw thousands of people protest outside the hotel after an asylum seeker living there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Hadush Kebatu, 41, denies the charges against him.
A second man who resides at the hotel, 32-year-old Syrian national Mohammed Sharwarq, has been charged with seven offences.
Essex Police said the protests, which were also attended by those in support of asylum seekers, became violent on occasion. Sixteen people have been charged with offences relating to disturbances during the demonstrations.