Hotel migrant says 'thank you Keir Starmer' after Epping victory

Sir Keir Starmer has been "thanked' by migrants after judges sensationally sided with the Government to keep asylum seekers at a hotel despite the local council and protesters objecting. The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, had been blocked from housing a wave of lone male asylum seekers by a High Court injunction which supported a case brought by Epping Forest District Council.

The decision also stopped the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper from using her powers as a minister to intervene.

The ruling, which was based on planning law, looked set to ignite a tsunami of similar actions by councils up and down the land, but the Home Office and hotel owners have now successfully had the injunction overturned by the Court of Appeal. The local authority in Epping has said it will fight on, taking a possible case to the Supreme Court for a final say.

Labour be likely be breathing a sigh of relief as the High Court decision could have left the controversial asylum seeker hotel scheme in tatters. Migrants inside the Bell Hotel said they wanted to say "thank you" to the Prime Minister.

Khadar Mohamed, 24, from Somalia, told the Telegraph: "I want to say thank you to Keir Starmer and his government. I am delighted with the news, wow. That is really amazing."

Some 138 asylum seekers would no longer have been able to be housed there beyond September 12 under the injunction. But the Home Office and Somani Hotels, which owns the Bell Hotel, challenged the High Court ruling.

However, the latest court case has sparked anger from protesters and the local authority with clashes with police outside the hotel on Friday. The council has vowed to pursue the case for a final say at the Supreme Court, and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: "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."

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accused the Home Office and Government of using the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) "against the people of Epping".

He added: "Illegal migrants have more rights than the British people under Starmer."

The protests around the Bell Hotel were sparked after an asylum seeker was alleged to have sexually assaulted a teenage girl.

Ethiopian Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, who was staying at the Bell Hotel, appeared in court last week to deny attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl just days after he arrived on a small boat crossing the Channel. Giving evidence in the witness box, the defendant said his alleged teenage sexual assault victim did not tell him she was 14 and he denied asking her for a kiss.

Verdicts in the trial are expected to be reached on September 4 at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court following closing speeches.

After angry scenes outside the Bell Hotel on Friday. three men were arrested after police officers were injured during the protest.

Essex Police said one man was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder, a second man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, and a third man was arrested on suspicion of drink driving after a car was driven on the wrong side of the road towards a police cordon. Two men have now been charged.