A quaint village in Oxfordshire will hold a symbolic independence “referendum” on Tuesday - over concerns about a nearby military site being used to house asylum seekers.
The Home Office is considering using the Bicester barracks to house 1,250 people, but this has been met with fierce opposition from the 350 local residents of Piddington.
In response, Andy Burnham said last month that wealthy areas of Britain “must play their part”, and that the country “cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country” housing asylum seekers.
He added that he would take a look at the situation, and said he was “prepared always to listen to people, to work with people and to pick up legitimate concerns”.
On 4 July, marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, 96 per cent of Piddington voters backed holding an unofficial independence referendum, which will take place on Tuesday.
The vote will invite residents to express whether their village should become independent from the UK.
Speaking to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Tim McNally, the chair of Piddington council said he was “pleased” that Mr Burnham had addressed the situation and was prepared to help him “find a way forward”.
Asked about the government’s response that middle-class communities needed to play their part, he said: “I fully support that and understand that. What Piddington is asking for is not to be exempt from the national responsibility.
“We know this country has a massive problem. The real issue here is about the scale, location and process.
“It’s not about the humanity of those being accommodated. Just because we are, as you may say, an affluent area it doesn’t mean high capacity.”
Last month Mike Nixon, the vice-chairman of Piddington Parish Council, said the Home Office plans would threaten residents’ human rights, security and way of life.
He said although he was in agreement with Mr Burnham’s intention to disperse asylum seekers into middle class communities, he believed doing so in Piddington was impractical and unnecessary.
Asked why the village wanted a referendum, Mr Nixon said: “We’re still very frustrated. Andy Burnham did say that he’s willing to listen, but we’ve had no formal contact. No consultation, nothing from the Home Office.
“We felt that the only way of making our views felt was to say ‘well if we’re not going to be listened to, what’s the point of being a part of the country?’”
Mr Nixon said the Government’s plans were flawed, posing risks to both residents and asylum seekers, and because they undermine Mr Burnham’s devolution plans.
Senior minister Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged “none of this is pleasant” but the disused military site was more suitable than housing asylum seekers in hotels.
There was “no imaginary place these people can go”, he said.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Where in the UK would want more of this? We’ve got to share this throughout the entire nation.”
Mr Reynolds said “I think a former military site is a far more suitable location” than a hotel in a town or city centre.
While the asylum seekers are not detained “you can more easily see who’s coming and going from a site like that”.
Mr Reynolds said the Government was grappling with a system that was in chaos following Tory decisions to allow numbers to build up ahead of the planned Rwanda deportation scheme which would have seen them sent to the African nation.
He said: “None of this is pleasant. None of this is easy.
“It comes from the fact that the system was completely out of control.
“None of this was being dealt with because there was this imaginary proposition that somehow people were going to be sent to Rwanda.”
On Monday, about 20 women gathered in Piddington to meet shadow home secretary Chris Philp, shadow minister for women and equalities Joy Morrissey, and Reform UK MPs Sarah Pochin and Suella Braverman.
Ms Morrissey, Ms Pochin and Ms Braverman were three of the four MPs – with Conservative MP Sarah Bool – to respond to an open letter from 133 female village residents to all 266 female MPs.
In the letter, the group of women said they faced a “crisis”, adding “our safety, security and freedoms will be under threat”.
Asylum seekers have been housed at various sites throughout the country, including at former military sites in rural areas such as at Wethersfield in Essex and Crowborough in East Sussex.
The government has plans for more housing at former military sites, subject to planning permission and approvals.
The Home Office is assessing whether Barnham Camp in Suffolk could be used to accommodate men aged between 18 and 65.
Protesters last month gathered outside the former RAF base and unrest has broken out in nearby Thetford, Norfolk, where people are thought to have tried to storm homes linked to asylum seekers.
Elsewhere in the country, hotels have been used to house asylum seekers, but the Government has committed to ending their use.
Hotels which asylum seekers have vacated include the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, the Delta Hotel Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, Best Western Stoke in Staffordshire, and the Wool Merchant Hotel in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
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