Source : Perth Now news
A tiny English village has voted to leave the United Kingdom as a symbolic protest against government plans to house up to 1200 asylum seekers on a nearby military base.
Residents of Piddington, which has a population of about 350, voted overwhelmingly for secession in the non-binding referendum. The results announced on Wednesday showed 285 votes in favour of breaking away, with 26 villagers voting against.
“We have given an absolute message, not just to the region, not just to the country, but to the world,” said the parish chairman, Tim McNally. He said the district will henceforth be known as “the Principality of Piddington”.
The attention-grabbing vote was called to oppose plans to turn the former Ministry of Defence Bicester base – into housing for male migrants. The government says the site is “designed to be largely self‑sufficient to minimise any impact on the local community.”
Residents in the Oxfordshire village have raised fears about safety, crime and the effect on house prices in the affluent area, 80 kilometres northwest of London.
Supporters called the declaration of independence a victory for people power and local democracy.
Others said the campaign had a darker side and stirred up fear of newcomers. Some backers of the Piddington referendum compared their fight against the asylum accommodation to the 1940 Battle of Britain against Nazi Germany.
Villager Herbert Owen, 76, said after voting on Tuesday that the independence referendum “isn’t just about Piddington,” adding: “It means everything our grandparents, our parents fought for. Today is the Battle of Britain.”
Comparing unauthorised immigration to an invasion has become increasingly common among politicians including Nigel Farage of Reform UK, and far-right groups that have been active in organising and attending anti-immigrant protests.
The UK has seen a wave of anti-immigrant demonstrations since riots erupted two years ago after a teenager killed three young girls during a dance class near Liverpool.
Protesters have clashed with police on many occasions, most recently at the port of Dover earlier this month, where masked demonstrators tried to stop a boatload of migrants being taken ashore.
The centre-left Labour Party government of Prime Minister Andy Burnham says it is making progress in processing asylum claims more quickly, so that migrants spend less time in state-sponsored accommodation, and stopping people crossing the English Channel in inflatable dinghies.
More than 41,000 people made the hazardous journey in 2025, but the number so far this year is down by more than 40 per cent from the same period last year.
“I understand the strength of feeling,” Burnham said on Wednesday.
“I will look at the issues being raised by the community and in the referendum, but we have to ensure that we have a fair plan.”
Refugee groups said military barracks aren’t the right place to house asylum seekers, but cautioned that migrants should not be made scapegoats.
“For people who have fled war and violence and come to the UK to be safe, being accommodated in such remote and unsettling environments only exacerbates their sense of insecurity,” said Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council.
