Village votes to leave U.K. in symbolic protest of plan to house asylum seekers

Piddington, England — A tiny English village has voted overwhelmingly to leave the United Kingdom in a symbolic referendum triggered by government plans to house more than 1,200 male asylum seekers at a former military site nearby.

Residents of Piddington, a rural village in Oxfordshire, voted 285 to 26 to "secede from the UK and pursue self-determination," with a turnout of nearly 92%. The vote has no legal force. 

Piddington has a population of around 350 people. The asylum accommodation plan would house up to 1,256 asylum seekers, more than three times the population of the village, at a former British military base in Bicester, half a mile from Piddington.

The site would operate as a non-detained asylum accommodation, meaning the asylum seekers would be able to come and go. The proposed development would operate for 10 years, the U.K. Home Office said.

Village residents told CBS News they believe there has been insufficient consultation over the plans and raised concerns about safety, crime and the potential impact on their lives.

The referendum was deliberately held on Sept. 15, Battle of Britain Day, commemorating a pivotal day in 1940 during World War II  when Britain's Royal Air Force fought off major attacks by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe. A banner commemorating the anniversary was displayed outside Piddington's village hall during the vote.

The dispute highlights a wider political dilemma for the U.K. government over where asylum seekers should be accommodated. Piddington is a relatively affluent rural community. Historically, asylum seekers have been disproportionately concentrated in poorer parts of Britain, in part because accommodation there has been cheaper.

Reacting to the news of the vote, Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the BBC, a CBS News partner, that he understood the village's "strength of feeling."

But he has argued that wealthier communities should shoulder more of the asylum accommodation burden.

"We cannot have a situation where it's only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers," Burnham told GB News.

The government is seeking to reduce its reliance on asylum hotels, the cost of which has become a major political issue, by moving asylum seekers into other spaces, including former military sites. 

But, as seen in Piddington, that strategy can create challenges when a large asylum facility is proposed near a small community that has historically accommodated relatively few asylum seekers.

Tim McNally, chairman of Piddington Parish Council and one of the leaders of the campaign against the facility, told CBS News the village deliberately drew inspiration from American history.

"We actually did this referendum … recognizing the United States' 250 years of independence and understanding the strife and struggle they went through to get their self-determination," McNally said.

McNally expressed frustration that no government officials have visited the community or spoken to the residents. 

"I'm only 60 miles away [from Parliament], and they can't even be gracious enough to get off their seat and come and see me, or invite me to come and see them," he said.

McNally said the attention the campaign has received reflects wider political discontent.

"The political behavior is of a type that you guys call the swamp," he said, referring to the American political slogan "Drain the swamp." "This is an example of the swamp."

For some residents, concerns center on what the development could mean for everyday life in the village.

"I'm worried about the safety of the children and the women of the village," said Jennifer Owen, who voted to leave the U.K. "The towns won't be the same, they'll be overrun, village will be overrun. It just won't be the same again."

In the neighboring county of Essex, where the government plans to expand an existing asylum accommodation site, Chief Constable Rachel Nolan told the BBC that crime linked to the facility is "very low."

The U.K.'s Office for National Statistics says it does not hold breakdowns of crime by asylum-seeker or migrant status, meaning there is currently no comprehensive national data showing whether asylum seekers are more or less likely to commit crimes than the wider population.

Owen's husband, Herbert Owen, who has lived in the area for 33 years, also voted to leave the U.K. He said he's worried the proposal would have a detrimental impact on house prices.

"What has been the point of working? To pay your mortgage, to pay this in your life, when the government are gonna impose this on you without even talking to you?" he said.

While Piddington remains part of the U.K., organizers of the vote hope the tactic will spread.

McNally said that after publishing a blueprint for the village's campaign, he received more than 500 inquiries from parish and town councillors and residents around the country interested in adopting similar tactics.

The controversy comes as the number of people seeking asylum in Britain remains historically high. Around 100,600 people claimed asylum in the U.K. in 2025, more than twice the number in 2019. Home Office figures show that 41% had arrived by small boat, while 39% had previously entered the country on a visa or other form of legal permission.

Over the past decade, roughly 630,000 people have claimed asylum in the U.K., according to U.K. government figures. Concerns about immigration and asylum seekers consistently rated as one of the top three issues for voters in Britain, according to YouGov polling.