The Court of Appeal is set to rule on whether migrants can be removed from a hotel in Essex.
Earlier this month council leaders won a temporary injunction to close the Bell Hotel in Epping after it became a focus for anti-immigration protests. All asylum seekers face having to leave the hotel by Sept 12.
The Home Office and owners Somani Hotels Ltd want to continue to use the hotel to house asylum seekers and appealed the decision.
If the Home Office’s appeal is rejected, it threatens to plunge the Government’s asylum policy into chaos and could open the door to councils closing down hotels housing more than 30,000 migrants across the country.
It comes after Home Office lawyers argued on Thursday that asylum seekers’ rights are more important than the concerns of the people of Epping.
