Residents of Piddington, an Oxfordshire village of 358 people, will vote on Tuesday, September 15 on a symbolic referendum to secede from the United Kingdom, in protest at Home Office plans to house more than 1,250 male asylum seekers at a former Ministry of Defence site on the edge of the village.
The ballot paper asks: "Yes or No: I support Piddington seeking to secede from the United Kingdom and pursuing self-determination." The vote will be held with numbered papers and a secret ballot, though it will not be legally binding because the government has not authorised it. One local council official has told villagers the referendum is illegal.
Parish council chairman Tim McNally, a management consultant, read the ballot question aloud at a meeting this week. When those present were asked to raise their hands if they intended to vote yes, the show of hands was unanimous. The result of the vote will be announced on Wednesday morning.
Asylum plan at the former MoD site
The Home Office announced plans to house more than 1,250 young, single, undocumented male asylum seekers at the disused MoD depot on Piddington's edge. An earlier blueprint had suggested the site could eventually take 3,500 people, though officials have since denied that is the plan.
Villagers say the 1,250 figure would leave them outnumbered ten to one; under the earlier 3,500 figure, they say they would be outnumbered 26 to one. Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock, and Cherwell District Council, run by the Liberal Democrats with Green support, both said they had not been consulted by the Home Office before the plan was announced.
Women of Piddington speak out
A group calling itself the Women of Piddington, made up of 133 residents, released a video message that has drawn more than two million views, alongside a letter to every female MP in Parliament asking for solidarity. "They would outnumber us ten to one. As fellow women, you will understand the serious risks," the letter states.
At the same meeting, resident Samantha Phillips offered a course in female self-defence; all 26 places were taken immediately. Krissy Honour, a farmer with a 13-year-old daughter who keeps a flock of sheep on the family's smallholding next to the MoD site, said: "We are giving all our freedoms to people who have simply broken into the country and we feel unsafe. I won't be letting her out to look after them if we have no idea who these men are."
A bat survey and legal tactics
Farmer Joy Haw-Cook, 56, has been leading a survey of bats on the site with help from a local expert, and told the meeting one species found there is listed as one of the rarest and most elusive mammals in the UK. "So that is really great news for us," she said, drawing applause, before joking she could now be called "Batwoman" or "Old Bat." She said a judge could grant an injunction on the site until May because the bats cannot be disturbed until their breeding season ends.
Susannah Parden, an accountant and deputy chair of the parish council who has been appointed returning officer for the referendum, said: "People just feel the government is not listening."
Countdown to the referendum
The campaign began on July 4, when the village held a CCTV-monitored vote at the village hall on whether to hold a referendum at all. McNally said at the time the date was chosen because the United States was marking 250 years of independence and the village wanted to model itself on that. The vote passed overwhelmingly.
Campaigners then set the referendum for September 15, ahead of Thursday's deadline for public submissions to the government's consultation on the plan. McNally said he only realised after a TV interview that the date also marks the anniversary of the 1940 Battle of Britain, a 114-day air campaign. "So we are now calling ourselves 'Ground Zero for the Battle of Britain,'" he said. A supporter has offered to fly a Spitfire over the village, though McNally said that would depend on the weather.
This week's meeting also included media training, with villagers told to expect heavy press attention and to "speak from the heart." One man shouted "Tax-free shopping!" to laughter. Local children have been asked to design a flag for an independent Piddington, and engineer James Burton produced a TikTok video set to a song called "It's the Battle for Britain," aimed at reaching a younger audience than the village's typical demographic.
Political response
In a written statement, Miller said: "Residents across our community have worked to expose the serious flaws in the proposal to build an asylum centre at MoD Bicester. My goal has been to unite the various local groups around a community-based, inclusive campaign so that our area speaks with one voice to government in expressing our opposition. I have challenged the Prime Minister to live up to his pledge to give agency and control back to local areas." He declined to say how he would vote if he lived in Piddington.
Cherwell District Council did not respond to a request for comment, though McNally said he received what he called a "curious" call from the council's electoral services department, which told him the referendum was against the law and that the village was only permitted to hold votes on matters such as the colour of the church gates.
A separate, broader campaign group known as Wrong Plan, Wrong Site, drawing on Piddington's research, is pursuing a judicial review of the Home Office's decision and has the backing of Miller.
Wider attention
The billionaire Elon Musk has publicly voiced support for the village's campaign, and the story has drawn coverage from television networks in the United States and Australia. The Times reported this week, citing a Home Office whistleblower, that just one per cent of people granted asylum in Britain are actually found to be in genuine need of protection. Officials have also issued leaflets to new arrivals explaining that rape is illegal, a detail that has added to residents' concerns.
