Today, Epping Forest MP Dr Neil Hudson urged the Prime Minister to close the Bell Hotel to ‘restore our town of Epping’, during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.
Dr Hudson used this rare opportunity to directly hold the Prime Minister to account by raising the plight of the communities of Epping since the Bell Hotel opened as asylum accommodation in April 2025, having been previously shut as accommodation by the previous Conservative Government in 2024. This re-opening was done without local consultation and against local advice.
Dr Hudson reminded the Prime Minister that sadly, a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl and others were victims of sexual assault by a then resident of the Bell Hotel, a horrendous incident only compounded by the fact that the offender was then erroneously released from prison, without any notification to the victims or their families.
Epping residents near the Bell Hotel have also experienced weekly protests since its reopening for asylum accommodation, in which unfortunately a small minority have engaged in violence, injuring at least ten officers of Essex Police since protests began and damaging police vehicles.
Since April 2025, Dr Hudson has urged the Government to close the Bell Hotel for the good of Epping’s communities. In the House of Commons Chamber, he has urged the Home Office to close the hotel on multiple occasions and urged the Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy to be accountable for the erroneous release of the convicted Bell Hotel resident Hadush Kebatu from prison.
In December, he also met with Asylum and Border Security Minister Alex Norris MP to stress the Bell Hotel be closed as a matter of urgency for the safety and security of residents. This was a meeting he had pushed for since the hotel opened alongside neighbouring MP for Brentwood and Ongar Alex Burghart MP and Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst, having also written to the former Minister Angela Eagle and the Home Secretary repeatedly to call for meetings.
Dr Hudson will continue to call for the closure of the Bell Hotel and ensure Epping’s communities are heard.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Dr Hudson asked:
“Prime Minister, for months our communities in Epping have been deeply distressed by the Bell Hotel reopening as an asylum hotel.
My thoughts remain with the victims of the sexual assaults including the fourteen-year-old Epping schoolgirl, that trauma compounded by the offender’s mistaken release from prison.
Weekly protests continue, some of which have become violent, with injuries to ten brave police officers.
I am very grateful to the Asylum Minister for meeting with me recently about this untenable situation.
But, will the Prime Minister please listen, act now, close the Bell Hotel once and for all, and help restore our town of Epping?”
Following Prime Minister’s Questions, Dr Hudson commented:
“The reopening the Bell Hotel as asylum accommodation has been causing deep distress to the people of Epping, who were never consulted and faced this in contradiction to local advice.”
“The generalised response I received today from the Prime Minister was very disappointing showing no empathy for the situation we face here in Epping.”
“I urge the Prime Minister and Government to do the right and safe thing for our communities and close the Bell Hotel immediately.”
