The criticism came after Badenoch said in a letter on Wednesday that she was encouraging councils to take the same steps as Epping Forest District Council “if your legal advice supports it”, with a Labour spokesperson accusing her of spouting “desperate and hypocritical nonsense”, given the Conservative’s own record with asylum hotels:
At the peak of their use in the summer of 2023 under the Conservative government, there were more than 400 asylum hotels in use.
Figures on those staying in hotels date back to December 2022 and showed numbers hit a peak at the end of September 2023, when there were 56,042 asylum seekers in hotels.
The Essex council secured a temporary injunction from the High Court on Tuesday, blocking the use of Epping’s Bell Hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers on planning grounds.
Speaking on Thursday, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said there “should not have been 56,000 people in hotels” under the Conservatives, but echoed Ms Badenoch’s call for councils to take legal action.
Mr Philp said: “Kemi’s letter yesterday [Wednesday] said she would support and encourage Conservative councils to follow what Conservative-led Epping started in fighting the use of asylum hotels, where there is a legal basis to challenge them.
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A Labour spokesperson said Ms Badenoch’s letter was a “pathetic stunt” and “desperate and hypocritical nonsense from the architects of the broken asylum system”, saying there were now “20,000 fewer asylum seekers in hotels than at their peak under the Tories”.
Whatever the situation, both the Tories and Reform are playing this issue for all it's worth in an effort to stir up unrest when they have been a huge part of the problem in the first place, preparing to play out scare stories instead of properly processing legitimate asylum seekers.
Your last paragraph is what should be spread far and wide on the media
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