EPPING MIGRANTS COULD BE MOVED TO ANOTHER HOTEL – The Security Minister was unable to say what alternative accommodation would be used

Migrants at the asylum hotel in Epping could be moved to a different hotel when it closes next month, a minister has admitted. Dan Jarvis was repeatedly unable to say what alternative accommodation would be used for the Channel migrants currently staying at the Bell Hotel in the Essex town.

On Monday, council leaders won a temporary injunction, which means all asylum seekers must now leave the hotel by Sept 12. The High Court sided with Epping Forest District Council after it claimed that placing migrants there was a “clear breach of planning permission” because it was no longer being used as a hotel.

Asked whether the Epping migrants would now be placed in a different hotel, Mr Jarvis, the security minister, told Sky News: “The use of hotels is not a long-term sustainable arrangement. “Under the previous government, there were 400 hotels in use, there are now 200. That is still too many…We’ve made a commitment that we’ll drive it down to zero by the end of this Parliament.”

The Home Office’s use of 200 asylum hotels is a similar number to when Labour took power last summer. It is estimated that they are housing around 32,000 asylum seekers. 

Last weekend, protesters clashed with police following the arrest of a migrant staying at the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf. The man, who was living in the hotel, was arrested on suspicion of common assault after he allegedly burst into a blind woman’s flat. 

Although down from its peak under the previous Tory government in late 2023, the use of asylum hotels still costs the taxpayer up to £4m a day.