𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Nigel Farage has exploded with fury following an appeal’s judge decision to allow the Bell Hotel in Epping to continue being used to house illegal migrants. The bombshell ruling from last week was overturned this morning, after the appeals court saw the government argue that the rights of illegal migrants take precedence over the outrage of locals.

The decision gets the Labour Government out of a massive headache, as it feared the previous successful ruling by Epping Council would throw its migrant hotel policy into disarray. The High Court initially ruled that 138 asylum seekers would have to be removed by September 1, however today’s ruling by Lord Justice Bean said the previous decision was flawed. Responding to the seismic decision by the court, Mr Farage said the government “has used ECHR against the people of Epping.”

He blasted: “Illegal migrants have more rights than the British people under Starmer.”

This week saw Reform UK unveil its plan for mass deportations of illegal migrants from Britain, which would require leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and displaying a number of other international refugee treaties.

Deputy Reform UK leader Richard Tice agreed that judges had sided “with illegal migrants against British people”, adding “Only Reform UK can be trusted to end this insanity.”

Justice Bean said the High Court had granted the injunction partly to reduce the risk of protests at the hotel – but this could actually increase the risk of disorder in the future.

In another win for the Home Office, Lord Justice Bean also said he was granting the Home Secretary permission to appeal against a ruling that she could not be a party in a future court hearing on the issue.

In a victory for Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, he said the Home Office can intervene in the case. Reading a summary of the decision, Lord Justice Bean said the Home Office had a “constitutional role relating to public safety” and was affected by the issues.

In written submissions for Thursday’s appeal hearing, Edward Brown KC, for the Home Office, said Mr Justice Eyre had “no regard to the obvious risk that other local planning authorities would adopt the same approach”.

Piers Riley-Smith, for Somani Hotels, in written submissions on Thursday, said that Mr Justice Eyre “overlooked” the “hardship” that would be caused to asylum seekers if they were required to move.

But Epping Forest District Council opposed the appeal bids, with barrister Philip Coppel KC stating in written submissions that the case “sets no precedent” and there was “no compelling reason” for the injunction to be overturned.

The Home Office told the court that the initial ruling set a “dangerous precedent” for other local authorities hoping to close down illegal migrant hotels.

The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch had instructed all other Tory-led councils to follow Epping’s example and move to get hotels shut down on similar grounds.