\n<\/p>\n
Becca Jones<\/strong>, director of asylum support in the Home Office<\/strong>, said it would be \u201csignificant\u201d to lose 152 bedspaces from the Bell hotel<\/strong> in Epping<\/strong>, Essex<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The PA news agency reports that in a witness statement referenced in the court of appeal<\/strong> hearing on Thursday, Jones said there were 103,684 accommodated asylum-seekers as of 31 March, higher than in 2024. She said:<\/p>\n In this context, and at this time, the loss of 152 bedspaces is significant when considering the Home Office\u2019s legal duty.<\/p>\n The availability of the hotel is also important in enabling the secretary of state to meet her duty to accommodate future asylum seekers going forward, in circumstances where the pressure on available properties is significant and increasing.<\/p>\n Jones continued in her witness statement that the interim injunction would risk \u201cencouraging other local authorities\u201d to seek similar injunctions. She said:<\/p>\n The Home Office is aware that there have been a series of protests in the local area about the use of the hotel, including some disorder in previous weeks. However, following appropriate police intervention, the situation is now understood to be one of managed, peaceful protest.<\/p>\n Jones continued:<\/p>\n The Home Office understands that local residents have concerns about the use of the hotel, which have been heard. However, those concerns must be viewed in the context of demands on the accommodation estate.<\/p>\n She concluded:<\/p>\n Granting the interim injunction sought risks setting a precedent which would have a serious impact on the secretary of state\u2019s ability to house vulnerable people, both by encouraging other local authorities to seek such interim injunctions pending the outcome of substantive planning law complaints and those who seek to target asylum accommodation in acts of public disorder.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.53 EDT<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Three senior judges will rule on whether to overturn a temporary The government is also seeking to appeal against Justice Eyre\u2019s At the end of a hearing on Thursday, Lord Justice Bean, sitting with He said: \u201cBecause of the great urgency of this matter, we will aim to give judgement at 2pm tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cIf it proves impractical for us to meet the deadline, we will let people know in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Concluding his submissions on behalf of the Home Office<\/strong>, Edward Brown<\/strong> KC said that Epping Forest district council<\/strong> has \u201ceffectively conceded\u201d that the injunction \u201cwas in truth only ever about protests\u201d.<\/p>\n He continued that the injunction had not stopped protests taking place around asylum seeker accommodation and was \u201csimply the wrong tool for doing so\u201d.<\/p>\n In his closing submissions, Piers Riley-Smith<\/strong>, for Somani Hotels<\/strong>, which owns the Bell hotel<\/strong>, said the injunction \u201crobbed\u201d the company of the \u201cability for dialogue\u201d with the authority. He also said that there were \u201cother and more appropriate\u201d solutions to the council\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n Lord Justice Bean<\/strong>, sitting with Lady Justice Nicola Davies<\/strong> and Lord Justice Cobb<\/strong>, said they would leave the courtroom briefly. He said:<\/p>\n What we need to discuss is when we will be in a position to give a judgment.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n In a joint statement with the foreign ministers of France<\/strong> and Germany<\/strong>, David Lammy<\/strong> said that Iran<\/strong>\u2019s non-compliance with a 2015 agreement to limit its nuclear programme was \u201cclear and deliberate\u201d.<\/p>\n The statement said that Iran has exceeded limits on enriched uranium imposed by the deal, and restricted the ability of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)<\/strong> to monitor its nuclear programme. It read:<\/p>\n Iran has no civilian justification for its high enriched uranium stockpile \u2013 now over nine significant quantities \u2013 which is also unaccounted for by the IAEA. Its nuclear programme therefore remains a clear threat to international peace and security.<\/p>\n Lammy said that the UK, alongside European allies, has \u201cnegotiated in good faith\u201d with Iran since 2019, but they are now \u201cleft with no choice\u201d but to reintroduce sanctions. He said:<\/p>\n Alongside my French and German counterparts, I have today written to the UN security council announcing that we have triggered the snapback mechanism which will end sanctions relief against Iran.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s nuclear programme remains a threat to global peace and security. Over the past six years, Iran has broken almost all limits in the JCPOA and its stockpile of enriched uranium is 45-times over the JCPOA limit.<\/p>\n Alongside our European allies, the UK has negotiated in good faith since 2019, when Iran began to disregard the nuclear deal. We supported a viable deal in 2022, which Iran rejected, and recently offered an extension to sanctions relief, subject to Iran meeting set conditions.<\/p>\n However, despite repeated warnings, Iran has made no substantive effort to meet the conditions of our extension offer and has consistently failed to provide credible assurances on the nature of its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n Whilst we have been left with no choice but to take this action, the ball remains in Iran\u2019s court and I would welcome their return to the table with a serious offer.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.47 EDT<\/p>\n Patrick Wintour<\/span><\/p>\n The UK<\/strong>, France<\/strong> and Germany<\/strong> have formally notified the UN<\/strong> that they have triggered the restoration of sweeping UN sanctions against Iran<\/strong>, giving Tehran<\/strong> 30 days to make concessions on access to its nuclear sites, or face deeper worldwide economic isolation.<\/p>\n UK officials said the decision had not been taken lightly and there had been very intensive diplomacy to try to avert this step. The officials stressed there was still room for some last-ditch diplomacy before the sanctions \u201csnapback\u201d comes into force in 30 days\u2019 time. The annual high-level UN general assembly<\/strong> in September is likely to see intensive diplomacy over how to handle Iran.<\/p>\n They added that Iran had been in significant non-compliance with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal since 2019, saying Tehran had been given ample opportunity to make itself compliant, but had either been unwilling or politically unable to act.<\/p>\n The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)<\/strong> quit Iran after Israel<\/strong> bombed Iran\u2019s key nuclear sites, and has been unable as yet to renegotiate a return to assess the state of those sites. Iran has allowed the IAEA inspectors to visit the Bushehr site<\/strong> where refuelling is due to occur.<\/p>\n The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy,<\/strong> informed the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi<\/strong>, of the move by the three European countries in a call on Thursday morning and British officials are expecting a sharp Iranian reaction.<\/p>\n The effect of the snapback will convert many existing, largely US and European, sanctions into UN-wide sanctions requiring observance by Russia<\/strong> and China<\/strong>. Some sanctions on the Iranian arms industry that are not currently in force will be restored. In addition, the US<\/strong>, as a permanent member of the UN securitycouncil, will in future have a veto over the lifting of the UN sanctions, a power it currently does not have.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The first session of parliament<\/strong> will run until Spring 2026, the government has announced. The session, which began in July last year after Labour won the election, could run to nearly two years long as a result of the announcement.<\/p>\n Sessions of parliament usually last for around a year, but ministers are hoping to progress as many pieces of legislation into law before the current one ends.<\/p>\n Commons leader Lucy Powell<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n By any measure, this is a bumper first parliamentary session delivering on the government\u2019s plan for change. No new incoming government has set out such an ambitious legislative programme in its first year, that delivers for working people.<\/p>\n We said we would tackle the cost-of-living crisis, put power and opportunity back into the hands of people and take on the vested interests holding us back \u2013 and that\u2019s what we are doing. This autumn is going to be a busy term for parliamentarians.<\/p>\n Setting up GB Energy, stopping water bosses\u2019 bonuses, new rights for workers and renters, public ownership of rail, better buses, protecting local football clubs, saving British steel, planning reform for new homes, new police powers to tackle antisocial behaviour and strengthening our borders are just some of the real change we\u2019re delivering so far.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Robin Green<\/strong>, for Epping Forest district council<\/strong>, told the court of appeal<\/strong> that the authority had not previously taken enforcement action against Somani Hotels<\/strong> over the use of the Bell hotel<\/strong> in Epping<\/strong> to house asylum seekers because it had been \u201cunproblematic\u201d.<\/p>\n The hotel has housed single adult male asylum seekers since April 2025, and from October 2022 to April 2024. It had also accommodated asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021, but this year marked the first time the council had taken enforcement action when it issued legal proceedings earlier this month.<\/p>\n According to the PA news agency, Green told the court that enforcement action had not been taken before because previous periods of the hotel being used as asylum seeker accommodation were \u201ctolerable\u201d.<\/p>\n Green said:<\/p>\n A decision not to take enforcement action at one point in time does not mean it cannot take a different decision at a later point in time if circumstances change. On the evidence, circumstances had undoubtedly changed.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Chemical firms are lobbying MPs not to ban \u201cforever chemicals\u201d in the same way as proposed in the EU<\/strong>, using arguments disputed by scientists and described as \u201cBig Tobacco playbook\u201d tactics, it can be revealed.<\/p>\n Pfas, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances<\/strong> and commonly known as forever chemicals owing to their persistence in the environment, are a family of about 10,000 chemicals, some of which have been linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including certain cancers. They are used across multiple industries, from cosmetics to firefighting.<\/p>\n In May, MPs on the environmental audit committee (EAC)<\/strong> launched an inquiry into Pfas, with a call for evidence on the uses and risks of the substances, and options for how to regulate them.<\/p>\n Exclusive analysis by the Ends Report<\/strong> and the Guardian of the responses submitted to the parliamentary committee has revealed major chemical producers, from UK-based companies to large US corporations, urging parliamentarians that any incoming UK Pfas regulation should be more limited than that currently proposed in the EU, which targets the whole family of chemicals.<\/p>\n Specifically, many of the responses from chemicals firms analysed by the Ends Report call for a commonly used type of Pfas called fluoropolymers<\/strong> \u2013 used across a broad range of industries including domestic cookware production, such as non-stick frying pans, and pharmaceuticals \u2013 to be spared the same kind of regulation as other types of forever chemicals, on the basis that they are not as harmful.<\/p>\n The validity of this argument, being made on record to UK politicians for the first time, has been disputed by scientists, with one stating that the chemicals industry is \u201ccopying the Big Tobacco playbook\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The Reform MSP who defected from the Tories this week should stand down, first minister John Swinney<\/strong> has said, reports the PA news agency.<\/p>\n Graham Simpson<\/strong> announced the move at a press conference alongside Reform UK leader Nigel Farage<\/strong> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Speaking on Thursday, Swinney called on Simpson to quit Holyrood<\/strong>, while also hitting out at the \u201cobnoxiousness\u201d of his new party leader\u2019s stance on immigration, which he said was \u201cundermining our legitimate economic aspirations\u201d.<\/p>\n The first minister pointed to a members\u2019 bill proposed by Simpson which would create a recall mechanism for MSPs who have been jailed or suspended from Holyrood for more than 10 sitting days. Swinney said:<\/p>\n Graham Simpson is the author of a bill about recalling members of parliament when they do things that people disapprove of.<\/p>\n I think there\u2019ll be Conservative voters in central Scotland who will be thinking \u2018what is the guy I voted for doing now representing Farage?\u2019<\/p>\n The hypocrisy of Graham Simpson is absolutely legendary on this \u2013 the author of the bill on recall now sits for a different political party, so that hypocrisy is just clearly visible.<\/p>\n Asked if Simpson should stand down, the first minister said: \u201cYes, I think he should.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>The Reform MSP, Graham Simpson, who defected from the Tories this week should stand down, first minister John Swinney has said.<\/span> Photograph: Andrew Milligan\/PA<\/p>\n Simpson was elected to the central Scotland region in 2016 as a Conservative MSP and if he was to stand down, his former party would get to select his replacement.<\/p>\n The first minister also hit out at Reform\u2019s stance on immigration after a new poll this week suggested the issue had moved into the top three most important to Scots. Swinney said:<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s important that we have a reasoned debate about migration in our country.<\/p>\n Scotland currently today faces a problem, which is that we have a declining working-age population.<\/p>\n We need to have more people in Scotland working and contributing to our economy. I talk to sectors right across the country who are short of staff and need more staff to be recruited to deliver the services they want to deliver, so we need to attract more people to come to Scotland.<\/p>\n Yet the immigration debate that has been fuelled by the obnoxiousness of Nigel Farage is undermining our legitimate economic aspirations to boost our population and to grow our economy.<\/p>\n With Reform continuing to surge in the polls and Farage targeting the SNP<\/strong>, the first minister said he remains \u201cvery confident\u201d Scots will be more interested in his party\u2019s record in government over the past 18 years than Reform.<\/p>\n Simpson\u2019s defection came 24 hours before former Labour councillor in Glasgow<\/strong> Audrey Dempsey<\/strong> announced she was joining Reform (see 11.14am BST).<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Robin Green<\/strong>, appearing for Epping Forest district council<\/strong> at the court of appeal<\/strong>, said that the Home Office<\/strong> should not be involved in the case as it \u201ccame too late to the party\u201d, reports the PA news agency.<\/p>\n He also said the council took a decision to issue injunction proceedings against Somani Hotels<\/strong> on 5 August, several days before it filed documents at the high court<\/strong> on 12 August.<\/p>\n Lord Justice Bean<\/strong> responded:<\/p>\n Why not send a letter before action [to Somani Hotels] saying \u2018unless you cease this use immediately, we are going to issue high court proceedings?\u2019<\/p>\n Green replied that \u201ca letter was not sent, and perhaps a letter should have been sent\u201d, but said that Mr Justice Eyre<\/strong> \u201cwas aware of all this\u201d when he made his decision to issue the temporary injunction.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Responding to Tony Blair<\/strong>\u2019s meeting at the White House<\/strong> with the Trump<\/strong> administration discussing the war in Gaza<\/strong>, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey<\/strong> called on the former UK prime minister to give evidence in parliament about his discussions.<\/p>\n <\/span>Tony Blair, the former Labour leader, became Middle East envoy after standing down as prime minister in 2007.<\/span> Photograph: Joe Klamar\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n In a statement on Thursday, Davey said:<\/p>\n Tony Blair needs to come before parliament to give evidence about his discussions with the Trump administration about the ongoing war and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.<\/p>\n If he has special insight into Trump\u2019s intentions, it\u2019s only right that parliament and the government are made privy to this.<\/p>\n Trump has a unique power to help end this war, get the hostages out, and get the desperately needed aid in to relieve the horrendous human suffering in Gaza. We must leverage all the information and resources at our disposal to make him do the right thing.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Immigration minister Seema Malhotra<\/strong> has dismissed Reform\u2019s plans to tackle immigration numbers as \u201cgimmicks\u201d that have \u201cunravelled on basic facts and figures\u201d.<\/p>\n The MP for Feltham and Heston<\/strong> said that she would not comment on Nigel Farage<\/strong>\u2019s proposed deal with Afghanistan<\/strong>\u2019s Taliban<\/strong> or \u201cindividual countries\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking in Portsmouth, Malhotra told the PA news agency:<\/p>\n I\u2019m not commenting on individual countries in this way.<\/p>\n What I will say is that we have a policy of returning people to their countries where they are safe or, as we\u2019ve seen in the agreement with France, to safe third countries.<\/p>\n What\u2019s also the case is that we\u2019ve seen Reform\u2019s plan unravel after just two days, and if that\u2019s their specialist subject to see their plans unravel on the basic facts and figures, one has to ask the question about what other plans they might have.<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s for our NHS or any other areas of our public services, what we are committed to is taking the serious action that we need and not gimmicks.<\/p>\n To make sure that we are stepping up the action we\u2019re taking to disrupt the activity of these evil criminal gangs to make sure that we are returning those with no right to be here \u2013 over 35,000 since the last election.<\/p>\n To make sure that we\u2019re bringing in new powers for law enforcement and intelligence sharing with other countries through legislation we\u2019re bringing forward in parliament that both the Tories and Reform have voted against, and to make sure that we are urgently speeding up the processing of asylum cases, a backlog that the last government left behind in a system that was utterly chaotic.<\/p>\n She continued:<\/p>\n Through these steps, I think what people will see is that we\u2019re taking the action we need, and that we will see a closure to asylum hotels and to this evil criminal trade.<\/p>\n When asked if the government had alternative plans to hotels for housing asylum-seekers, Maholtra said:<\/p>\n What we are doing is making sure that we\u2019re reducing the need for hotels. That\u2019s the critical bit of this and we\u2019ve got to do that by working with communities across the country, making sure that what we\u2019re doing is processing asylum cases much more quickly, making sure that we\u2019re returning those with no right to be here, and making sure that we are delivering on our commitment that we made in our manifesto to see a closure to all asylum hotels in this parliament.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve already seen a drop from the 400 asylum hotels that we saw open at their peak under the previous government, and seeing that now almost halved to just over 200, this is really important that we continue the work that we\u2019re doing to make sure that we see a closure of all asylum hotels in line with our manifesto commitment in this parliament. That\u2019s what we\u2019re determined to do.<\/p>\n <\/span>Migration minister Seema Malhotra boards Border Force cutter ‘Seeker’ during a visit to the Border Force’s maritime command and Home Office intelligence in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on Thursday.<\/span> Photograph: Andrew Matthews\/PA<\/p>\n When asked if the government was reliant on hotels, she said:<\/p>\n Well, we\u2019re also reliant on making sure that we\u2019re clearing the backlog, because the number of people in hotels is as a result of the asylum cases that are open.<\/p>\n What we need to do is to continue that step change that we\u2019ve seen processing asylum cases much more quickly, making sure that we\u2019re seeing those returns for people who have no right to be here as a result also of the returns agreements that we have been signing, whether that\u2019s with Iraq, whether that\u2019s with France. Whether that\u2019s also in relation to the agreements and cooperation agreements we\u2019ve got with other countries like Vietnam.<\/p>\n When we see the results of all of those actions, when we see the new powers that are going to be coming in as a result of new legislation that we have brought in to parliament to increase intelligence sharing, to make it an offence to even supply criminal gangs, we are going to be doing much more than the previous government.<\/p>\n We\u2019re seeing the arrests step up of those involved in criminal gangs, and we\u2019re seeing that this evil criminal trade is disrupted that we are seeing put lives at risk and undermine our border security.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.10 EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Home Office says injunction against Epping hotel would have \u2018serious impact\u2019 on UK\u2019s ability to house asylum seekers Becca Jones, director of asylum support in the Home Office, said it would be \u201csignificant\u201d to lose 152 bedspaces from the Bell hotel in Epping, Essex. The PA news agency reports that in a witness statement referenced<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[3875,2917,9428,456,5360,671,265,9137,132,1008,124,5309,1070],"class_list":{"0":"post-18147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-ability","9":"tag-asylum","10":"tag-epping","11":"tag-home","12":"tag-hotel","13":"tag-house","14":"tag-impact","15":"tag-injunction","16":"tag-live","17":"tag-office","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-seekers","20":"tag-uks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
injunction which is set to block asylum seekers from being housed at the
Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, at 2pm on Friday.
<\/strong>
The Home Office and Somani Hotels, which owns the site, are
attempting to challenge a High Court judge\u2019s decision last week to issue
an interim injunction to Epping Forest District Council that will stop
dozens of asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel beyond
12 September.<\/p>\n
decision not to allow it to intervene in the case, while the council
opposes the appeal bids, PA reports.<\/p>\n
Lady Justice Nicola Davies and Lord Justice Cobb, said that they would
hand down their judgement on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\nUK, Germany and France say they have triggered UN sanctions on Iran<\/h2>\n
Chemical companies lobbying MPs not to ban Pfas<\/h2>\n
Reform MSP who defected from Tories should stand down, says Swinney<\/h2>\n
Davey calls on Blair to give evidence in parliament after White House Gaza meeting<\/h2>\n
Immigration minister dismisses Reform UK’s immigration plans as ‘gimmicks’<\/h2>\n