Being told the human rights of asylum seekers trump those of residents will haunt Labour: SIR MICHAEL ELLIS

The Home Secretary may today be celebrating victory after the Court of Appeal ruling that 140 male asylum seekers can remain at the Epping hotel which lies at the centre of anti-immigrant protests, but she has unquestionably lost hands-down in the court of public opinion.

Yvette Cooper, let us remember, is a member of a party that claims to represent working people against vested interests. 

But today saw the Government’s finest legal minds working at her behest to block Epping Forest District Council’s attempt to close down the de facto migrant hostel for the sake of its voters.

Yes, the court’s decision buys some time for Ms Cooper in the short term, but it also reveals the Government’s deep contempt not only for the for the people of Epping but for anyone living in the shadow of an asylum hotel who is worried about the threat of crime and disorder in their midst.

It is no exaggeration to say the Government’s position is so disastrously at odds with the will of the people that the case is little short of a slow-burn time-bomb, particularly at a time when the issue of border control and asylum seekers is the subject of such heated public debate.

The Government’s lawyers appear to have convinced the Appeal Court judges on a number of debatable issues. 

In overturning an earlier High Court judgment, Lord Justice Bean ruled that closing the hotel because of public protests would only have incentivised similar protests elsewhere.

But surely the argument can just as easily be made the other way round – that unrest can also be provoked by overturning the initial injunction.

The Home Secretary may today be celebrating victory after the Court of Appeal ruling that 140 male asylum seekers can remain at the Epping hotel which lies at the centre of anti-immigrant protests (pictured, demonstrators outside the hotel) 

But Yvette Cooper (pictured) has unquestionably lost hands-down in the court of public opinion, says Sir Michael Ellis 

Today saw the Government’s finest legal minds working at her behest to block Epping Forest District Council’s attempt to close down the de facto migrant hostel for the sake of its voters. Pictured: Protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Horley, Surrey, on August 23

The Appeal Court judge also mentioned his discomfort with legal arguments about a ‘hierarchy of rights’, yet appeared to give more weight to the rights of the asylum seekers staying at the hotel at taxpayers’ expense than the local people who have had a migrant hotel foisted upon them.

Being told the human rights of asylum seekers are more important than the rights of local residents is a deeply unpopular argument to make – and is one that will surely come back to haunt the Labour Government.

What credence will voters give now to Labour’s frequent promises to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers, when they argue in court that they are ‘an integral part of the asylum system’?

And why should voters believe Labour’s blandishments about the importance of local democracy and the ever-increasing devolution of powers to regional mayors and devolved governments, when they argued the opposite to win this case?

Indeed, the court has effectively ruled that Yvette Cooper’s duties as Home Secretary trumped any concerns local people might have about the safety of their own neighbourhood.

Such are the appalling political optics of today’s hearing that I am sure whether the Government technically won or lost will be seen as irrelevant in the long run. 

What will stick in voters’ minds is that Labour can’t be trusted – and that belief will eventually be reflected at the ballot box.

What people will remember about this case is how Ms Cooper put short-term political expediency over the rights and freedoms of those who have to live next door to a hotel that remains open as a consequence of her decisions.

It’s hard not to conclude that the Government’s behaviour over the Epping issue will only further embolden those from all political backgrounds – who are campaigning for Britain to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.

Sir Michael Ellis KC is a former attorney general in the previous Tory government.