The British government’s migrant accommodation policy will come under huge pressure as its opponents insist on the court’s decision and call for protests and legal action to force migrants out of temporary accommodation, Reuters reports.
According to polls, immigration issues have overtaken the economy as the most important issue and concern for citizens. The country is seething with anger over the large number of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the English Channel. 27,000 migrants have already arrived in Britain this year.
On the 19th of August, London’s High Court upheld a temporary ban on the accommodation of asylum seekers at the Bell Hotel in Epping, about 32 kilometers northeast of London. The hotel has become a regular site of protests after one of its residents was charged with sex crimes. The accused denies the charges, but police have had to deploy large forces to separate immigration supporters from anti-immigration protesters by the hotel.
In the case of Epping, the ban is linked to planning issues and could be lifted when the case is heard in full soon. Meanwhile, other local authorities have said they will also urgently seek legal advice to clear their hotels of migrants.
Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform Party, said
the 12 local authorities controlled by his party would do everything in their power to force the migrants out.
Farage wrote in the Daily Telegraph: “Let’s hold peaceful protests outside the migrant hotels, and put pressure on local councils to go to court to try and get the illegal immigrants out; we now know that together we can win. No doubt we will be attacked as ‘far Right’ provocateurs for daring to suggest that people follow the lead of Epping’s parents and residents by protesting peacefully.”
There are currently around 30,000 asylum seekers in more than 200 hotels in the Great Britain, awaiting a decision on whether they can stay in the country. While the government has said it plans to end the accommodation of migrants in hotels entirely by 2029, the prospect of others following Epping’s example is a major headache.
In court, the Home Office said the ban was having a significant impact on the government’s ability to comply with its legal obligations to accommodate them. The Home Office will now consider whether to appeal.
Critics of the current system say that housing asylum seekers, often young men who are not allowed to work, puts local communities at risk, and point to recent incidents in Epping and elsewhere where migrants have committed sex crimes. They also compare the amenities provided to migrants in hotels to the hardships faced by some British citizens due to the high cost of living.
Meanwhile, supporters of migrants have said that far-right groups are deliberately stoking tensions for their own benefit.
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