Residents of Piddington, a village of about 350 people near Bicester in Oxfordshire, have voted overwhelmingly for independence from the United Kingdom in a symbolic referendum against Home Office plans to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers at a nearby former military site.
Of 312 votes cast on Tuesday, 285 were for leaving, 26 against and one ballot was spoiled, meaning ther was about 91 per cent in favour, on a turnout of roughly 90 per cent of adults.
Parish council vice-chair Susannah Parden declared: “We are Piddington the village that roars.”
Chairman Tim McNally said the result was “an example of democracy in operation” and that the village would henceforth be known as the “Principality of Piddington”.
A sign bearing that name was put up on the boundary.
The poll has no legal force. There is no mechanism for a parish to secede.
Organisers said that the point was to force Westminster to listen.
On July 4, 96 per cent of those who voted had already backed holding the referendum.
The site in question, MoD Bicester (“Site A”), sits about half a mile from the village, between Piddington and Upper and Lower Arncott.
The Home Office wants to convert it into basic accommodation as part of a drive to empty asylum hotels.
Men housed there would not be detained; they would sign in and out.
Locals say the plan would almost quadruple the immediate population and sit next to land used by children.
They cite safety, crime, house prices and the lack of shops or services in the village.
Some have compared the fight to the Battle of Britain.
Villagers plan CCTV and security patrols. One hundred and thirty-three local women wrote to every female MP last week saying “life as we know it will be destroyed”.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the government would not drop the proposal. She told broadcasters that asylum processing had sped up, small-boat crossings were falling and the load had to be shared between poorer and wealthier areas.
The Home Office says the site is designed to be “largely self-sufficient” and that more than £1 billion has been saved on asylum support since the election.
No final planning decision has been taken.
Oxfordshire county council leader Tim Bearder called the site wrong for both the community and the asylum seekers.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp and Reform UK MPs Sarah Pochin and Suella Braverman visited before the vote.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he understood the “strength of feeling” but insisted on fairness across the country.
McNally said the village could elect leaders and even issue identity cards. How far the campaign goes, councillor Joe Marshall said, depends on whether the government is willing to listen.
🇬🇧🚨 Dover was brought to a standstill as hundreds of masked men blocked the port over Channel crossings.
Protesters shut down approaches to Britain’s busiest ferry port before a second large demonstration erupted in Portsmouth.
Police were forced to form lines around coaches…
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 7, 2026
