Residents of a small English village have voted overwhelmingly in favour of symbolically leaving the United Kingdom in protest against plans to house more than 1,200 asylum seekers at a nearby former military site.
Piddington, a village of around 350 people in Oxfordshire, held a non-binding referendum on Tuesday. Of the 312 ballots counted, 285 supported the proposal to seek independence from the UK, while 26 voted against it and one ballot was spoiled.
The vote has no legal effect and was organised as a symbolic protest against plans to convert a disused Ministry of Defence site in nearby Bicester into accommodation for asylum seekers.
The proposed centre is expected to house up to 1,250 single adult male asylum seekers for at least 10 years. The British government has said the use of former military facilities is part of its effort to reduce reliance on hotels for asylum accommodation.
Piddington parish council chair Tim McNally said the village would now refer to itself as the “Principality of Piddington”. He argued that the scale of the proposed centre was disproportionate to the size of the local community.
Some residents have expressed concerns about the potential impact on safety, property values and the character of the village. Others have questioned how such a large number of new residents would affect the area’s limited infrastructure and services.
The symbolic referendum has attracted national attention and highlighted wider tensions over Britain’s asylum accommodation policy. Protests against the use of hotels and other facilities to house asylum seekers have taken place in communities across the country.
Oxfordshire county council leader Tim Bearder has warned that the planned centre could become a focus for far-right demonstrations and potential attacks on asylum seekers.
The government, however, has defended the proposed use of the former military site. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said former military bases were a better option than hotels or rented accommodation and indicated that the plan would proceed.
The government has also said that the safety and security of asylum seekers, staff and local residents would be a priority once the centre becomes operational.
The Piddington vote was partly inspired by the 1949 British comedy film Passport to Pimlico, in which residents of a London neighbourhood discover that their area is technically independent and declare it a separate state.
While the referendum cannot change Piddington’s legal status, the result has given residents a highly visible way to express their opposition to the proposed asylum centre and added to the broader national debate over how Britain accommodates asylum seekers.
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