Council chiefs have ruled out taking legal action to close down asylum hotels in Stoke-on-Trent – until they know they can win.

Jane Ashworth, the Labour leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, says the authority will wait to see the outcome of court cases elsewhere in the country before launching its own action.

Labour councillors voted down a motion, proposed by the opposition Conservative group, which called on the authority to 'immediately commence all necessary legal proceedings to close all migrant hotels' in the city.

The debate during Thursday's full council meeting was prompted by Epping Forest District Council's legal bid to stop the Bell Hotel, in Essex, being used to house asylum seekers.

While the Court of Appeal overturned the decision to grant the council an interim injunction, the full case is due to be heard at the High Court next month.

Cllr Ashworth told the meeting that it would be premature for the city council to start its own legal action until the Epping Forest case set a precedent.

There have been protests in Hanley. (Nub News)

She said: "It is not appropriate to do this right now. Firstly, there is no point in doing it, starting legal proceedings, until we know what the actual result is in the Epping case and other cases. To do something immediately is to chuck money at something when we don't know if there's any point in doing it yet.

"Secondly, we need to do more work in the city to get control of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). I'm telling you, if people are removed from that hotel, because of the structure the Conservative government set up, there will be an increased use of HMOs to house asylum seekers. That will happen.

"We have to wait for the clarity about where people can go. It doesn't make sense to go all-in on a legal case until we know we have a chance of winning it."

Labour councillors instead voted through their own motion which called for a fairer distribution of asylum accommodation across the country but noted that the government is 'delivering practical solutions' to the problem.

Home Office figures show that there were 224 asylum seekers being supported in hotel accommodation in Stoke-on-Trent in June, along with 1,014 in dispersal accommodation.

The Best Western hotel in Hanley, which is being used as asylum accommodation, has been the subject of protests and counter-protests in recent days.

Conservative group leader Dan Jellyman, who proposed the motion, acknowledged that the use of asylum hotels had started under the previous Tory government, but told the meeting that it should be brought to an end now.

Conservative group leader, Dan Jellyman, proposed the motion. (LDRS)

He said: "I do not believe it is correct to being housing migrants who are coming across the channel in hotels. In some cases it's creating ghettoes in city centres, it's causing health issues in the hotels, it's causing an increase in community tensions and decrease in available rooms.

"They are no longer hotels, they are detention centres in all but name, and as such they should have planning permission, determined by local councillors.

"If we start proceedings and the courts do agree with Epping Forest District Council, then we will be ahead of the curve."

Reform UK councillor Luke Shenton, backed the Conservative motion and said the practice of using hotels to house asylum seekers had to end.

He said: "All these hotels need to be closed immediately. It's not just about the absurd cost, it's about the safety and security of the people who live and work around the area. Stoke-on-Trent has enough local issues as it is without adding this problem. We are not a dumping ground."

The Labour motion criticised the Conservatives' record on asylum while welcoming the current government's approach, including returns deals with countries such as Iraq and France and new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's commitment to end the use of hotels.

But Conservative councillors, who opposed the motion, pointed to the fact that more than 30,000 people had cross the Channel in small boats so far in 2025, a 38 per cent increase on 2024.