It is deeply depressing that the British state has failed so comprehensively to police the nation’s borders that local councils find themselves with no other recourse than asking whether the hotels housing new arrivals have the requisite planning consents to do so, says Andrew Lomas

Amidst the sound and fury surrounding the court case brought against the owners of the Bell Hotel in Epping, one thing that strikes me is the extent to which our political culture increasingly looks to the courts – rather than Parliament – to solve problems created by politicians. There are several possible reasons for this.

The most obvious, perhaps, is the fact that the quality of the average MP has collapsed. It’s not a novel observation,........

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