PIDDINGTON VOTES TO LEAVE UK IN PROTEST AT ASYLUM SEEKER HOUSING PLAN

Residents of Piddington, an Oxfordshire village near Bicester, voted on Tuesday in a symbolic, unofficial referendum on declaring the village independent from the UK. The parish council organised the ballot in protest at Home Office plans to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers at the nearby former MoD Bicester military base. Ballots were cast in a box outside the village hall, and the result was announced on Wednesday. Of 312 votes cast in the village of 350 residents, 285 backed independence, 26 voted against, and one ballot was spoiled. Susannah Parden, vice chair of the parish council, announced the result, saying: "We are Piddington the village that roars."

Piddington has no pubs, cafes or shops. The proposed number of asylum seekers is more than three times Piddington's population. The vote followed an earlier referendum on 4 July, the 250th anniversary of American independence, in which 96 per cent of villagers backed holding Tuesday's ballot. The government plans to use the Urgent Crown Development Process, which would allow Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to bypass local planning authorities to approve the scheme.

Senior minister Jonathan Reynolds addressed the plan on the day of the vote, telling ITV's Good Morning Britain: "Where in the UK would want more of this? We've got to share this throughout the entire nation." He said a former military site was "a far more suitable location" than housing asylum seekers in hotels. Reynolds said "none of this is pleasant" but there was "no imaginary place these people can go." Reynolds said asylum seekers would not be detained, but it would be easier to see who was coming and going from a military site than a hotel.