A debate on the BBC's Newsnight has sparked quite the reaction after Paddy O'Connell welcomed Zoe Gardner, Sir Simon Clarke, and Newsnight Political Editor, Nick Watt, to the show to discuss the fact a High Court judge had ordered the removal of asylum seekers from a hotel in Epping within 24 days.
The ruling came following legal action by the local council. Mr Justice Eyre granted Epping Forest District Council a temporary injunction against the Bell Hotel on Tuesday, requiring all residents to vacate by September 12.
The decision comes after weeks of demonstrations outside the Essex hotel. The council argued that Somani Hotels Limited, which owns the property, had breached planning regulations by using the premises for asylum accommodation rather than its intended purpose as a conventional hotel.
The government's attempt to intervene in the proceedings was rejected by the judge earlier on Tuesday. Somani Hotels has announced its intention to appeal the decision.
**ARE YOU READING THIS ON OUR APP? DOWNLOAD NOW FOR THE BEST GB NEWS EXPERIENCE**
BBC Newsnight: Zoe Gardner
|BBC
Gardner, billed as an immigration researcher by the show, branded the ruling a "failure" by the government, claiming: "It’s absolutely the wrong way for this to have gone, and the result, which is that people are being moved out of a hotel where there were violent, racist protests taking place week in, week out, outside of their gates, people being terrorised who were living there, and huge disturbances to the local community.
"Yes, it’s absolutely right, people should not have been housed in that hotel, but for it to happen in this way... what an enormous humiliation for the government, a huge failure, which lays bare the arrogance with which they have approached this asylum issue.
"They have gone day after day after day this summer, pursuing anti-migrant rhetoric across their social media, across their announcements, across all of their policy approaches. And what they’ve done is fueled the flames of this hatred.
"What they should have been doing is acting sooner to move people out of hotels and into a more sustainable, community-based form of accommodation."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
BBC Newsnight: Zoe Gardner sparked uproar with her remarks
|BBC
Former Tory MP Clarke was also apprehensive, although not quite as damning as his fellow guest. Looking ahead, he said: "Well, they will end up in dispersal accommodation, and this is really the point I was making a moment ago...
"They’ve got to be housed somewhere, and therefore they will end up, I suspect, in HMOs, they’ll end up in the private renter sector.
"And this will mean, I’m afraid, that they will end up in parts of the country where that accommodation is readily and cheaply available, which means areas like my former constituency in Middlesbrough.
"And that will go down, I can tell you tonight, like a cup of cold sick."
BBC Newsnight: The panel discussed the latest hotel ruling
|BBC
The discussion was shared far and wide by the show's X account soon after, and it's safe to say many were displeased with a supposed lack of balance in regards to the ruling.
Taking aim at Gardner, in particular, one X user fumed: "Did anyone ask her what form of 'local community based accomodation' she was referring to? When there is a housing crisis how does putting tens of thousands of migrants into the mix ease that crisis? An idealist's thinking, after which, reality will bite her a**e off."
"It doesn’t seem appropriate to refer to Gardner as a ‘migration researcher’ as that implies some kind of neutrality when clearly Gardner is in favour of extremely high levels of inward migration into this country," a second hit out. "A better description could be pro migration campaigner?"
"What research has she done? She's just an activist. That could be fine but call a spade a spade," a third echoed while a fourth raged: "One day the BBC needs to be held to account for having these naked activists on and painting them as ‘researchers’/‘experts’."
BBC Newsnight: Sir Simon Clarke also weighed in
|BBC
"Why does she lie so blatantly and not get challenged on it?" a fifth queried while a sixth blasted: "'Immigration researcher Zoe Gardner' implies she's some sort of expert on immigration, instead of a pro-immigration activist she's widely reported to be. The BBC should better inform their audience of who they're platforming."
However, Gardner did receive plenty of support from her followers after she shared a clip from the interview on her own page.
"Zoe did her job best possible way. She’s been a sane voice," one supporter argued before a second concurred: "Mobilising a part of the population to create disorder and achieve political goals.
"I don't know how such hate mongers are still given more airtime to spread their ill ideology. On the other hand you were brilliant yesterday as ever." (sic)
The protests began after Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, a 38-year-old asylum seeker residing at the hotel, was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
The Ethiopian national faces allegations of attempting to kiss the teenager and has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial is scheduled for later this month.
Local parents have expressed mounting concerns about their children's safety. Lindsey Thompson, a resident, told GB News that her 17-year-old daughter had reported men regularly sitting in alleyways watching students walking home from school.
"We're not natural protesters. We're hard-working people, just mums and dads," Thompson said, explaining that parents had been leaving work early to demonstrate outside the hotel, chanting "save our kids".
The debate this morning isn’t How can we run a humane & sustainable asylum accommodation system?
— Zoe Gardner (@ZoeJardiniere) August 20, 2025
It’s how many pitchforks does a town need to mobilise to banish homeless asylum seekers?
We are in a very dark place, my friends. But we will stand up for one another. #r4today https://t.co/PHKjF2ls6F
Schools in the area have issued correspondence to parents advising increased vigilance after pupils were approached in the town centre.
During the court proceedings, Philip Coppel KC, representing the council, stated that the situation was "getting out of hand" and "causing great anxiety" to residents. He argued the hotel "is no more a hotel [to asylum seekers] than a borstal to a young offender".
Piers Riley-Smith, acting for Somani Hotels, countered that the "draconian" injunction would cause "hardship" to current residents. He argued that "political views" were not sufficient grounds for granting an injunction.
The hotel's barrister revealed that asylum seeker contracts were a "financial lifeline" for the business, which had only one percent occupancy in August 2022 when operating for paying guests. He noted the hotel had previously accommodated migrants from May 2020 to March 2021 and October 2022 to April 2024 without formal enforcement action from the council.
Riley-Smith stated that no planning application was submitted in April 2025 "having taken advice from the Home Office".