Councils mull legal move on migrants

COUNCILS across England are considering legal challenges as the Government scrambles to draw up contingency plan for housing asylum seekers set to be removed from a hotel in Essex.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTER

Ministers are now bracing for further legal challenges from councils after Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction by the High Court on Tuesday.

The ruling blocks asylum seekers from being housed at The Bell Hotel, in Epping, and current residents must be removed by September 12. Yesterday, several local authorities, including some run by the Labour Party, said they were looking at their options to take similar action.

Carol Dean, leader of Labour-controlled Tamworth Council, said her authority had previously decided against legal action but was now “carefully assessing” what the decision might mean for the area, adding it was a “potentially important legal precedent”.

A spokesperson for Wirral Council, which has seen protests outside a hotel in Hoylake, said the authority was “considering the detail” of Tuesday's judgment.