Overview

• Home Office officials have sought permission to intervene in the Epping case, a step that would allow an appeal of the interim High Court ruling that bars placements at the Bell Hotel and requires residents to leave by 12 September.
• New Home Office data show 32,059 asylum seekers were in hotels at the end of June, an 8% rise year on year and well below the September 2023 peak of about 56,000.
• Councils including Tamworth and Wirral (Labour), Broxbourne and Hillingdon (Conservative) and others are examining planning-based challenges following Epping Forest District Council’s success.
• Dozens of demonstrations and counter-protests are expected outside hotels over the weekend, with campaign groups preparing rival events and police forces braced for public-order demands.
• Contractors and officials have reportedly approached property specialists and landlords for roughly 5,000 rental units as contingency, while options such as RAF Wethersfield and other sites are being considered, and ministers reiterate a pledge to end hotel use by the end of this parliament.