Piddington Residents Vote to Secede From UK Over Plan to House 1,256 Male Asylum Seekers

In Piddington, Oxfordshire, residents held a symbolic referendum in protest at plans to house 1,256 male asylum seekers at a former army garrison near the village, and the result was declared by Susannah Parden just after 7am on Wednesday.

“Residents in Piddington voted 285 to 26 to “secede from the UK and pursue self-determination””

The Telegraph

Residents voted 285 to 26 to “secede from the UK and pursue self-determination,” with a turnout of nearly 92 per cent, and the poll carried no legal or constitutional weight.

AFP

The vote was timed to the anniversary of the 1940 Battle of Britain, and parish council chairman Tim McNally said it was a “battle for Britain” and an example of “democracy in operation.”

The Telegraph reported that the parish has been approached by 500 town and village councillors and residents for advice on replicating the campaign, which was backed by the Conservatives, Reform and the Liberal Democrats.T

The BBC said the referendum was organised by the local parish council and that out of 312 votes cast, 285 voted to leave, there were 26 no votes, and one ballot paper was spoiled.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News that the government would not reconsider the proposal, saying the alternative would be to ask communities that had already seen their local community quadruple in size to take more of the load.

Nandy also argued that “it is deeply unfair” for the burden of shouldering asylum accommodation and other temporary accommodation to fall on poorer communities, while the BBC reported that she said the government was listening to the Piddington campaigners.

BBC

Tim McNally, speaking as parish council chair, said the village went into the village hall “as the underdogs - we had a plucky idea,” and that the campaigners had “given a message to the world.”

Herbert Owen, 76, compared the independence vote to the Battle of Britain and said, “This Government is destabilising our country,” as quoted by The Telegraph.T

The Independent reported that Piddington’s symbolic vote was staged after 96 per cent of voters backed holding the referendum on 4 July, and that the result was announced by a returning officer to an audience of dozens of journalists and residents outside the village hall.

The BBC reported that women in the village said “life as we know it will be destroyed” if the plans went ahead, and it said more than 130 female residents wrote to every female Member of Parliament to share their concerns.

““We will not feel safe walking our streets. We are already living in fear,””

BBC

In that open letter, the BBC quoted the women saying, “We will not feel safe walking our streets. We are already living in fear,” while Al Jazeera-style language was not used in the Piddington coverage.

The Guardian said the dispute over the plans in Bicester came against a backdrop of tensions elsewhere, and it quoted Oxfordshire county council leader Tim Bearder saying the referendum showed campaigners had done “an incredible job” to highlight their concerns.

Bearder told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the referendum was “partly about the proposal itself and partly about way the government has gone about it,” and he said “It’s the wrong site for the local communities, for the asylum seekers themselves, and for the taxpayer.”

The Home Office spokesperson quoted by the Guardian said, “As part of the process, we engage with local authorities and police forces to ensure the safety and security of those in the surrounding area,” as the government continued to defend the use of former military sites.