Gransnet forums

News & politics

Setting a precedent?

(341 Posts)
PoliticsNerd Wed 20-Aug-25 08:45:20

Australia has a huge ocean surrounding it. I cannot be a comparator for the UK anc Europe swampy1961.

Iam64 Wed 20-Aug-25 08:38:48

Good point PoliticsNerd.
I smiled (😉) reading the DM earlier, referring to government policy to house ‘migrants’ in hotels. No reference to it being previous government policy as well, no reference to asylum seekers.
These people have to be housed. Many came here because their country of origin has historical links with the UK. English their second language. All these flag waving shouters must be frightening

windmill1 Wed 20-Aug-25 08:38:32

Hordes, and I mean hordes, of single fighting age young men, dispersed amongst the population in HMO's?

No thanks.

They have already shown what little - if any - regard they have for women by abandoning their own kind to poverty, persecution and abuse,

swampy1961 Wed 20-Aug-25 08:36:13

Hopefully it will spur the government to get moving on the backlog of asylum applications or deport them.
Other countries like Australia have no problem in quickly deporting people who have no right or reason to be in their country. Whereas we put them up and give them money etc and treat them better than our own citizens who often have a greater genuine need and claim to housing and help.
I have no issue with genuine claimants but as the majority are young men - I can't understand why they are not fighting or working to make things better in their own homelands.
It is concerning though that the government is doing a lot of damage under the radar - Portsmouth council apparently had no idea that asylum seekers were being housed in HMOs despite them telling them they didn't have the capacity some time ago. The present government is fast losing credibility on a range of issues and this is just one of them.

PoliticsNerd Wed 20-Aug-25 08:33:59

Unfortunately, the last Government did so little processing of asylum seekers that this problem was bound to arise and bound to have no easy answer.

This government has speeded up the system and the returns. Do not expect a quick easy answer; their won't be one. Do expect the government to keep moving forward and to work with other countries. Government is the art of the possible, it is not necessarily "the art of the perfect" or "the art of the ideal." It often involves pragmatic compromise, balancing competing interests, and working within constraints, rather than achieving perfect or utopian outcomes.

Those who vote are adults and should have long outgrown the expectation of the wave of a magic wand!

eazybee Wed 20-Aug-25 08:30:38

The Council Offices and several large office blocks in local towns are up for sale. Excellent location, near to town centre and the park; ideal housing for migrants. This is what they were planning to do with Waterlooville Shopping Centre.

Iam64 Wed 20-Aug-25 08:24:59

This is an interesting ruling, with significant possible ramifications.

These asylum seekers have to be housed somewhere. The anger about the financial cost and impact on surrounding areas has been increasing.
I do t know enough but, the Nightingale hospital buildings?
It’s easy to say stop the boats but difficult in practice

escaped Wed 20-Aug-25 08:11:39

Not only is it a win for Epping, but Broxbourne Council (just along the road), is going to follow. I believe they use the Marriott hotel in Cheshunt.

What I want to know, is what will happen when we run out of spaces? Will Keir Starmer ask King Charles at one of the weekly meetings if Buckingham Palace can be used?

PoliticsNerd Wed 20-Aug-25 07:47:03

The courts ruling seems to be based on change of use from hotel, i.e., limited stay time, which breaks the planning law. The government now needs to review this and we need to wait and hear the conclusions they reach.

growstuff Wed 20-Aug-25 04:16:07

JenniferEccles

Rwanda?

I'm not going to repeat all the humanitarian and legal objections to the Rwanda plan because they're available online and have often been quoted on GN.

The plan would only ever have transferred about 200 asylum seekers a year - at considerable cost. It was, in any case, a bilateral arrangement and the UK would have had to accept asylum seekers from Rwanda. IMO the Labour government would be foolish to resurrect that particular idea.

JenniferEccles Wed 20-Aug-25 00:08:37

Rwanda?

growstuff Tue 19-Aug-25 21:51:24

At the end of July the Home Office notified Braintree District Council of temporary capacity increase plan for Wethersfield asylum centre. The Home Office has informed the council of its intention to increase the operational capacity of Wethersfield asylum centre from 800 to 1,245 temporarily.

My guess is that the Epping residents will go to Wethersfield, but even Wethersfield can't accommodate all the asylum seekers currently in hotels.

Pippa000 Tue 19-Aug-25 19:38:34

I assume they will still need to house them somewhere.Possibly in houses, tower blocks, former student accommodation ?

Smileless2012 Tue 19-Aug-25 17:16:12

Could well be a precursor to setting a precedent if it goes from temporary to a permanent ruling.

Spinnaker Tue 19-Aug-25 17:14:42

Let's hope so. Trouble is, where do they send/place them if taken out of the hotels ?

Sarnia Tue 19-Aug-25 16:55:52

The High Court has awarded Epping Forest District Council a temporary injunction to remove asylum seekers from a local hotel.
Setting a precedent?