Local communities should not pay the price for Labour’s total failure on illegal immigration.
Keir Starmer has shown that he puts the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people who just want to feel safe in their towns and communities.
This ruling is a setback, but it is not the end. I say to Conservative councils seeking similar injunctions against asylum hotels – KEEP GOING! Every case has different circumstances, and I know good Conservative councils will keep fighting for residents, so we will keep working with them every step of the way.
We will be writing to all Conservative councillors with further advice following this judgment and setting out our open offer to work with councils and communities to take action. We will also continue to work closely with Epping Council as they consider their next steps.
The public can see exactly who is fighting to keep these hotels open. It's Labour. Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda removal plan, promised to smash the gangs, yet illegal crossings are the highest they've ever been. Labour have run out of options, so the only answer left is to dump the problem on local communities.
The fact remains that asylum hotels are a choice. The Conservative government halved the number of migrant hotels and had closed down many, including the Bell Hotel in Epping, which Labour then re-opened. The Conservatives were expanding detention centres while halving the number of hotels, because we had a plan for the removal of illegal arrivals. Instead of going to court to keep asylum hotels open, or housing illegal immigrants in private rented accommodation, Keir Starmer should increase detention capacity immediately.
Only the Conservatives have a thorough plan to expand detention, remove every illegal arrival, and end the asylum hotel scourge once and for all. No ifs, no buts.
