Tories Demand Labour Holds ‘Emergency Cabinet Meeting’ After Bell Hotel Ruling – Guido Fawkes

Tories Demand Labour Holds ‘Emergency Cabinet Meeting’ After Bell Hotel Ruling

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Following the High Court ruling that the Bell Hotel in Epping can no longer house asylum seekers, the Tories are demanding the government hold an emergency cabinet meeting to plan the immediate deportation of all illegal immigrants upon arrival. Reform has meanwhile promised its councils will take the government to court wherever possible…

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has written to Yvette Cooper, insisting Labour also pledge that none of the current Bell Hotel occupants will be moved into hotels, HMOs, apartments, or social housing. Good that Philp is so active on a hotel that opened on his watch…

The Bell Hotel’s use as an asylum hotel began in 2020 while Philp was Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Immigration Compliance and Courts, only to be shuttered in spring 2024 under Cleverly after a process initiated by Jenrick. Labour, of course, reopened it once back in office…

Read Philp’s letter in full below:

Dear Yvette,

The Conservative-led Epping Council has successfully challenged your use of the Bell Hotel, Epping to house illegal immigrants. Labour decided to reopen the hotel, which had been closed by the previous Conservative government on 30th April 2024.
Up and down the country people are furious about the number of illegal migrants being housed in hotels – which rose in the nine months following the election under Labour. People are also concerned that you are now moving people from hotels into apartments and other accommodation, which is sorely needed by young people here who are struggling under this Labour government.
The public are also furious about your government’s failure to tackle illegal channel crossings, which are the worst ever this year and up 47 per cent compared to last year. Over 50,000 illegal immigrants have crossed since the election – also the worst such period ever.
We now learn that illegal immigrants housed in hotels have been charged with hundreds of crimes, including sex attacks on young girls.
This migration crisis has happened because you made the catastrophic decision the cancel the Rwanda deterrent just before it was due to start with no replacement plan. The Rwanda scheme would have seen every illegal immigrant deported upon arrival and made it impossible to claim asylum if you entered the UK illegally.
Given this crisis unfolding on your watch and the concern about where the Epping migrants will go, will you:

• Hold an emergency Cabinet meeting to establish plans for the deportation of all illegal immigrants upon arrival and to resolve the migrant crisis you have created (just as the government recently held an emergency cabinet meeting on recognising Palestine).
• Commit that none of the illegal immigrants currently in the Bell Hotel will be moved into hotels, HMOs, apartments or social housing, which are much needed for British people. The previous government established alternative accommodation on current or former military sites and an accommodation barge, which are all alternative options while deportation plans are put in place.

I look forward to your prompt response.
Yours sincerely

Rt Hon Chris Philp MP