london —
A small rural village in central England has voted to secede from the UK in protest at plans to detain more than 1,000 migrants on nearby former military land.
The referendum was held in Piddington, Oxfordshire, on Tuesday, with the overwhelming majority of voters backing the symbolic plan to pursue self-determination as a principality, parish council deputy leader Susanna Parden announced on Wednesday.
“312 votes were counted, which is almost 92% of the ballots issued,” she said, revealing there were 285 votes in favor, 26 votes against, and one lose vote.
The referendum was held in response to government plans to house up to 1,250 adult male migrants at Bicester Garrison, a former military site near the village.
According to 2021 data from the Diocese of Oxford, Piddington has a church and village hall, a population of 358 people, and no local shops, post office or pub.
The vote has no legal weight but is the latest sign of growing tensions over the arrival of migrants in the UK, particularly those crossing the English Channel from France, as well as housing issues for recent arrivals.
The centre-left Labor Party’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham is moving migrants out of expensive temporary accommodation in hotels and into former military bases, sparking opposition in nearby areas.
Tim McNally, chairman of Piddington Parish Council, told a press conference on Wednesday that the vote was “an example of democracy at work”.
Plans to house migrants in former outposts “could turn our villages upside down,” he said, adding that the referendum was part of broader dissatisfaction with the government’s immigration policies.
“Piddington isn’t just doing it for themselves,” McNally said.
“What I learned on this trip is that there are so many people in his country who are very dissatisfied and angry with the actions of their government and democracy,” he added.
Speaking on behalf of the government, Culture Minister Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast that she understood the concerns, but insisted the problem predates the government’s arrival.
“In my constituency of Wigan, there was a real problem with asylum hotels opening overnight without any notice and people not being consulted,” she said. “It caused some serious problems.”
“I think it’s absolutely right and fair for them to express their views, and I think it’s absolutely right for the government to listen to those views,” Nandy added.
“But we also have to accept that we are pulling every lever at our disposal to clear the asylum backlog we inherited.”
Oxfordshire County Council said a final decision had not yet been taken on whether to use Bicester Garrison as a detention center for migrants.
“From the outset, we have been clear that proposals of this scale must be developed in partnership with local communities and public services, with full transparency about the impact on local people and local infrastructure,” the council said in a statement sent to CNN on Wednesday.
The department said: “We are aware that residents of Piddington and the surrounding area have questions about this proposal and its potential impacts,” adding: “We continue to work to ensure that local concerns and impacts are fully understood and reflected in our discussions with Government.”
“The government is closing all asylum hotels,” a Home Office spokesperson told CNN.
“We are working to equitably accommodate asylum seekers across the country and are moving asylum seekers to alternative accommodation, such as former military facilities, designed to be self-contained to reduce the impact on local communities,” they added.
“As part of the process, we will work with local authorities and police to ensure the safety and security of people in the surrounding area.”
Government figures show 101,900 people will apply for asylum in the UK in 2025, the third highest number ever in a calendar year.
Opposition to the government’s immigration policies is becoming increasingly organized, with two large anti-immigration demonstrations taking place over the weekend of September 5th and 6th.
First, masked men disrupted traffic at the port of Dover on England’s south coast. The next day, hundreds of balaclava-wearing protesters blocked roads and clashed with police in Portsmouth, also on the south coast, after a small boat carrying migrants landed nearby.
CNN has contacted Piddington Parish Council and local MP Callum Miller for comment.
