Anti-Northern Ireland Protocol campaigner says migrant hotels are a sign of 'complete collapse' in government duty to citizens

Ben Habib, the former Brexit Party MEP and erstwhile joint deputy leader of Reform (who has since left the party), made the comments after days of news headlines about the practice.

It all follows a landmark ruling at the High Court in London on Tuesday, when a judge granted an injunction to stop migrants being housed in a hotel in Epping, Essex, on the grounds that it could be a breach of planning permission.

It emerged on Friday that the government is going to appeal that ruling.

Tuesday's judgment has given rise to a wave of activity among councils across the UK, who are now investigating whether migrant hotels in their own jurisidictions are also in possible breach of planning rules.

In Northern Ireland, the News Letter has revealed that at least four councils – Belfast, Causeway Coast and Glens, Ards and North Down, and Antrim and Newtownabbey – are now performing checks in their respective areas.

The latest figures from the Home Office show that, as of June this year, there were 2,535 asylum seekers in receipt of government support in Northern Ireland.

The biggest single group came from Somalia (668), followed by Syria (235), Eritrea (219) and Sudan (166).

Out of the 2,535 total, 246 were housed in hotels.

A number of figures from the DUP, UUP, and TUV publicly raised concerns about the practice this week, including education minister Paul Givan, who said it was a symptom of a "broken" immigration system.

Mr Habib – who became widely known among unionists from about 2021 onwards for his interest in the Province and staunch opposition to the sea border – told the News Letter today: "I think the vast majority of sane people in this country recognise that the country is their home and the people who have come across the Channel in dinghies have broken into their home, without any right, without permission – it's breaking and entering.

"Instead of resisting their assault on our society, our government puts them up in hotels: empties expensive hotels of clientele and gives these people four-star treatment while our own veterans and our own people sleep rough and have difficulties.

"Nothing could be more egregious I think to the British people than to see illegal migrants being given preferential treatment.

"It is perhaps the most visual example of a complete collapse in governance, a complete collapse of the government's recognition of where its duties lie.

"I'm not surprised people are up in arms about it."

The bulk of those claiming asylum in the UK did not arrive by small boats; just over 108,000 people claimed asylum in the UK in 2024, while around 37,000 people were detected crossing the English Channel in small boats in 2024.

What of those who arrived legally (for instance, on a student or work visa) and then claimed asylum?

"That's different," he said.

"We've got to toughen that aspect up as well, but it is an absolutely open-and-shut case that if someone is in the country illegally they have broken our law and should therefore be prohibited from making an asylum application."

However he added that "bizarrely, Northern Ireland is subject to EU human rights law and even if we go something in Great Britain to change the law to protect ourselves, we can't protect Northern Ireland because of the Northern Ireland Protocol / Windsor Framework - it's a different jurisdiction for human rights law".

Specifically, he referenced Article 2 of the Protocol, which imposes a duty to ensure that Brexit causes "no diminution of rights, safeguards or equality of opportunity" as set out in the Good Friday Agreement.

For example, he noted that last year the High Court in London ruled that the former Tory government's Rwanda scheme was largely inapplicable to Northern Ireland because it undermined human rights protections guaranteed in the Protocol.

Mr Habib is a property developer who was born to a Pakistani father and an English mother in Karachi, Pakistan.

A leading figure in the Brexit Party/Reform movement, he fell out with Nigel Farage in 2024, prompting him to leave Reform last year and set up his own party called Advance UK, of which he is the leader.

Before the injunction was handed down on Tuesday barring asylum seekers from the Bell Hotel in Epping, barristers for the Home Office had asked to intervene in the case, citing the “substantial impact” caused to the Home Secretary in performing her legal duties to asylum seekers.

They argued that moving asylum seekers from the hotel would cause “particular acute difficulties” for the government.

But the bid was dismissed by Mr Justice Eyre, who said the department’s involvement was “not necessary”.

The Home Office is now going to appeal against both this refusal and the injunction itself.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said ministers are working to close migrant hotels “as swiftly as possible” as part of an “orderly” programme that avoids creating problems for other areas.

“That is the reason for the Home Office appeal in this case,” she said.

"To ensure that going forward, the closure of all hotels can be done in a properly managed way right across the country – without creating problems for other areas and local councils.”