Blocking asylum seekers from staying at the hotel at the heart of recent anti-immigration protests may spark further action elsewhere, the Home Office has said.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the Government department are appealing against a temporary injunction granting the closure of the Bell Hotel in Epping from September 12, displacing 138 asylum seekers staying there.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, alongside the Bell's owner Somani Hotels Ltd, is seeking to overturn the injunction granted to Epping Forest District Council.
Judges are set to hand down their ruling at 2pm on Friday. The decision could have wide-ranging impacts on other councils' bids to have migrant hotels in their own areas shut down, as other authorities have vowed to do.
But the Home Office's legal team have this afternoon claimed that shutting down migrant hotels will not make the issue go away - and may in fact create 'chaos'.
