Asylum seekers facing eviction in Epping could be moved to a different hotel after a minister refused to say what the alternative accommodation would be. The High Court ruled on Tuesday that the Bell Hotel must stop housing asylum seekers and remove any asylum seekers staying there within 14 days. It remains unclear where they will be moved to, but security minister Dan Jarvis failed to rule out the possibility of simply moving them to another hotel.
He told ITV News that the Government needs to “find appropriate alternative locations” and is looking at “contingency options” to house asylum seekers, but he did not specify what these alternatives would be. Mr Jarvis said: “We’re looking very carefully at the court ruling that was handed down yesterday. We’ll want to identify a range of contingency options for how those people can be appropriately accommodated elsewhere.”
During another interview with Times Radio, he failed five times to say where the Bell Hotel asylum seekers would be sent following yesterday’s ruling.
Mr Jarvis said finding appropriate accommodation presented a “short-term challenge,” adding: “We’re looking very closely at the circumstances at that particular hotel in Epping.”
Labour has promised to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by 2029. Currently, the Home Office uses 200 hotels – a similar number to when Labour took power – estimated to house around 32,000 asylum seekers.
The security minister maintained that “in general terms we don’t think hotels is the right accommodation solution for asylum seekers”.
He still, however, could not provide a definitive answer on whether they will be used to house the displaced Epping asylum seekers.
Mr Jarvis said “it would vary depending on different locations” and that the Government will “have to look at a range of different scenarios.”
The High Court’s decision to grant Epping Forest District Council’s temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel has been hailed as a “victory for the mums and dads”.
Kemi Badenoch said Epping residents “just want their children to be safe” and called for the asylum seekers to be “moved out of the area immediately”.
She wrote on X: “Putting a hotel full of young male illegal immigrants in the middle of a community like Epping was always going to lead to issues. They need to be moved out of the area immediately.”