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The decision was a temporary reprieve for the government but will intensify a political battle over how Britain should house tens of thousands of asylum seekers.

By Lizzie Dearden

Reporting from the Court of Appeal in London

A British court ruled on Friday that the government could continue to house asylum seekers in a hotel in Epping, northeast of London, reversing a previous decision in a case that has come to symbolize the polarizing debate over immigration in Britain.