The Court of Appeal is a technical victory for the government, the ruling that will allow shelter seekers to stay in Bell Hotel in Eating.
But for many labor strategists, the way the ruling had gone, today was the case of “they win, we lose”.
Let’s start with good news for ministers.
They are breathing a sigh of relief that, whether they lost this appeal, other local councils may bring legal challenges against the use of hotels for shelter seekers in their area.
This would lead to the risk of throwing the entire system in anarchy as thousands of asylum seekers are waiting for decisions on their affairs and limited housing options.
But it is the legal duty of the government to keep them away from the streets.
This court verdict effectively resumes the situation.
It gives ministers time to fulfill their promise to remove all shelters from hotels in “a controlled and systematic ways” by 2029.
But there will be no champagne cork popping in the house office.
This is because to maintain their legal responsibility to protect the shelters, they have to argue in favor of keeping them in the house to use the hotel.
It is already being confiscated by Labor’s political opponents.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Keer stormer has shown that he puts the rights of illegal migrants over the rights of British people who only want to feel safe in their cities and communities.”
He urged Tory Councils to continue legal matters against refuge hotels.
Reform UK leader Nigel Faraj claimed that the government had used the European Human Rights Act “against the people of Eating”.
He said: “Illegal migrants have more rights than British people under stars.”
For a government under pressure after summer of small boat crossings, this is a difficult situation.
As a labor advisor told me, now the ministers would be under pressure to take more radical action to counter the kind of allegations they are facing.
In this, some hotels may be swapped or used for the former military barracks, as Health Minister Stephen Kinnok earlier suggested on Sky News.
But such a step can move the voters to the left who believe that Britain should give more support to those seeking asylum.
This court’s decision may be climax for the government for a difficult heat. But it also marks the beginning of an autumn that does not look very easy.
