Labour councils join revolt over asylum hotels after Epping ruling

Labour-run councils are considering legal challenges to close hotels housing asylum seekers after a landmark ruling prompted officials to consider increasing the use of former military sites as emergency accommodation.

- Rajeev Syal Vikram Dodd

Wirral and Tamworth councils said they were exploring high court injunctions to remove claimants after the Conservative-run authority in Epping Forest won a temporary high court injunction to remove people from the Bell hotel.

The developments come after the Home Office minister Dan Jarvis said the government was looking at alternative accommodation options should there be a flurry of successful challenges from councils.

Yvette Cooper is determined to stick to her plan after the Epping ruling and its consequences, according to a source close to the home secretary. "We have a plan and we're sticking to it to close asylum hotels by the end of the parliament," the source said. "This is one narrow court judgment that happened yesterday. We're not being knocked off course, this is our manifesto commitment."

Ministers are reluctant to disclose details of alternatives to avoid offering a recruitment tool for the far right, according to a government source.

Paula Basnett, the Labour leader of Wirral council - which includes the Wallasey constituency of the immigration minister Angela Eagle in its boundaries - said: "Like many other local authorities, we have concerns about the Home Office's practice of placing asylum seekers in hotels without consultation or regard to local planning requirements.

"We are actively considering all options available to us to ensure that any use of hotels or other premises in Wirral is lawful and does not ride roughshod over planning regulations or the wishes of our communities.