- Residents in Barnham, Suffolk, have voted overwhelmingly to hold a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK in protest against plans to house asylum seekers at a nearby former military base.
- Out of 80 attendees at a village hall meeting on Saturday, only seven voted against the proposal, with a group meeting on Monday to establish a timeline for the vote.
- Barnham parish council chair John Bauer said that the action responds to the government's failure to consult locals about proposals that will change the village's nature.
- The initiative follows a similar vote in Piddington, Oxfordshire, where almost 90 per cent of residents symbolically declared independence in September over asylum housing plans at MoD Bicester.
- The Home Office acknowledged the strength of local feeling but defended using self-contained former military sites as a more affordable alternative to hotels.
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