Campaign duo insist 'Labour is failing to get a grip'

A FATHER and daughter who have stopped more asylum seekers being housed at a hotel at the heart of a wave of national protests say the Government is failing to get a grip on the migrant crisis.

- By James Knuckey

Council leader Chris Whitbread and his daughter Holly, who is also a councillor, launched a legal bid to close the Bell Hotel to migrants in Epping, Essex, after a series of heated protests outside.

On Friday, a judge imposed a temporary ban on it taking in any more people, to give him time to rule on whether to grant the injunction sought by Epping Forest District Council.

The Bell Hotel, pictured right, has become the focal point of a series of protests after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl. Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, denies the allegations and is due to stand trial later this month.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express, Tory councillors Chris and Holly accused Labour of lacking a plan to deal with the migrant crisis and suggested Home Secretary Yvette Cooper should be relieved of her duties. The council leader warned demonstrations like those seen in Epping, and now other UK towns and cities, could become more widespread.