Tiny English village votes to split from UK in spat over migrant center

A tiny rural village in central England has voted to secede from the United Kingdom in protest over plans to house more than 1,000 migrants at a former military site nearby.

The referendum took place on Tuesday in Piddington, Oxfordshire, with an overwhelming majority of voters backing the symbolic plan to pursue self-determination as a principality, Susannah Parden, vice chair of the parish council, announced on Wednesday.

“We had 312 votes counted, which is nearly 92% of the ballot papers issued,” she said, revealing that there had been 285 votes in favor, 26 against and one spoiled ballot.

The referendum was held in response to government plans to house up to 1,250 adult male migrants at the Bicester Garrison, a former military site near the village.

Piddington is home to 358 people, according to 2021 data from the Diocese of Oxford, a church and a village hall – there is no local store, post office or pub.

The result of the vote holds no legal weight, but it is the latest sign of growing tensions surrounding migration in the UK, particularly around the arrival of migrant boats crossing the English Channel from France, and the issue of where to house recent arrivals.

Hannah McKay/Reuters

Prime Minister Andy Burnham, of the center-left Labour party, has been attempting to move migrants out of expensive temporary accommodation in hotels and into ex-military bases, which has sparked opposition in nearby communities.

Tim McNally, chair of the Piddington parish council, told a press conference Wednesday that the vote “is an example of democracy in operation.”

Plans to house migrants at the old garrison “could turn our village upside down,” he said, adding that the referendum was part of a wider frustration with the government’s migration policy.

“Piddington is not just doing it for itself,” McNally said.

“What I’ve learned in this journey is that there are many, many people across his country who are hugely frustated, angry, with the behavior of government and democracy,” he added.

Speaking on behalf of the government, Culture Minister Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast that she understood these concerns, but she argued that the issue predates the government’s time in office.

“In my constitutency in Wigan we’ve had real issues with asylum hotels being opened overnight without any notice and people not being consulted,” she said. “It’s caused some serious challenges.”

“I think it’s absolutely right and fair that they express their views and I think it’s absolutely right that the government listens to those views,” Nandy added.

“But we also have to accept that we are pulling every lever at our disposal to clear the asylum backlog that we inherited.”

A final decision on whether to use Bicester Garrison to house migrants has yet to be taken, according to Oxfordshire County Council.

“From the outset, we’ve been clear that any proposal of this scale should be developed in partnership with local communities and public services, with full transparency about the implications for local residents and local infrastructure,” the council said in a statement sent to CNN on Wednesday.

“We recognise that residents in Piddington and surrounding communities have questions about the proposal and its potential impact,” it said, adding: “We will continue to ensure that local concerns and impacts are fully understood and reflected in discussions with government.”

A spokesperson for the UK Home Office told CNN that “the Government is closing every asylum hotel.”

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“We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites which are designed to be self-contained to reduce impact on the local community,” they added.

“As part of the process, we engage with local authorities and police forces to ensure the safety and security of those in the surrounding area.”

In 2025, 101,900 people applied for asylum in the UK, the third-highest number ever recorded in a calendar year, according to government figures.

Opposition to the government’s migration policy has become increasingly organized, with two major anti-migration demonstrations on the weekend of September 5-6.

At the first, masked men blocked traffic at the port of Dover, on the south coast of England. The following day, hundreds of balaclava-wearing protesters blocked roads and clashed with police in Portmouth, which is also on the south coast, after a small boat carrying migrants landed nearby.

CNN has contacted Piddington Parish Council and the local member of parliament, Calum Miller, for comment.

英格兰中部一个偏远的小村庄投票决定脱离英国，以抗议政府计划在附近的一处前军事基地安置 1000 多名移民。

公投于周二在牛津郡皮丁顿举行，绝大多数选民支持以公国身份追求自决的象征性计划。教区议会副主席苏珊娜·帕登周三宣布了这一消息。

“我们已经统计了 312 张选票，这几乎占已发放选票的 92%。”她透露，其中有 285 张赞成票，26 张反对票和 1 张废票。

此次公投是为了回应政府计划在比斯特驻军（位于该村附近的一个前军事基地）安置多达 1250 名成年男性移民。

根据牛津教区 2021 年的数据，皮丁顿有 358 位居民，有一座教堂和一个村委会——没有当地商店、邮局或酒吧。

投票结果不具有法律效力，但这却是英国移民问题日益紧张的最新迹象，尤其是在移民船从法国穿越英吉利海峡抵达英国，以及如何安置新近抵达者的问题上。

汉娜·麦凯/路透社

中左翼工党首相安迪·伯纳姆一直试图将移民从昂贵的酒店临时住所转移到前军事基地，这引发了附近社区的反对。

皮丁顿教区议会主席蒂姆·麦克纳利周三在新闻发布会上表示，这次投票“是民主运作的一个例子”。

他说，在旧兵营安置移民的计划“可能会让我们的村庄天翻地覆”，并补充说，这次公投反映了人们对政府移民政策的普遍不满。

“皮丁顿这样做并非仅仅为了自身利益，”麦克纳利说道。

“我在这段旅程中了解到，在他的国家，有很多很多人对政府和民主制度的行为感到非常沮丧和愤怒，”他补充道。

文化部长丽莎·南迪代表政府在接受 BBC 早餐节目采访时表示，她理解这些担忧，但她认为这个问题在政府执政之前就已存在。

她说：“在我所在的威根选区，难民收容酒店在没有任何通知、也没有征求民众意见的情况下，一夜之间就开放，这确实造成了一些严重的问题。这带来了一些严峻的挑战。”

“我认为他们表达自己的观点是完全正确和公平的，我认为政府倾听这些观点也是完全正确的，”南迪补充道。

“但我们也必须承认，我们正在动用一切手段来清除我们继承下来的庇护申请积压问题。”

据牛津郡议会称，是否使用比斯特驻军安置移民的最终决定尚未做出。

“从一开始，我们就明确表示，任何如此规模的提案都应该与当地社区和公共服务部门合作制定，并且要充分透明地说明对当地居民和当地基础设施的影响，”该委员会在周三发给 CNN 的一份声明中表示。

“我们意识到皮丁顿及周边社区的居民对该提案及其潜在影响存在疑问，”声明中写道，“我们将继续确保充分理解并反映当地居民的担忧和影响，并在与政府的讨论中予以体现。”

英国政府内政部发言人告诉CNN，“政府正在关闭所有难民收容酒店”。

为什么极右翼蒙面男子会在英国港口进行抗议？

他们补充说：“我们正在努力公平地安置全国各地的寻求庇护者，将他们转移到替代住所，包括设计成自给自足的旧军事基地，以减少对当地社区的影响。”

“作为该过程的一部分，我们会与地方当局和警察部队合作，以确保周边地区居民的安全。”

根据政府数据，2025 年，英国有 101,900 人申请庇护，这是有记录以来单年申请庇护人数第三高的数字。

反对政府移民政策的呼声日益高涨，组织性越来越强，9 月 5 日至 6 日的周末发生了两起大型反移民示威活动。

首先，一群蒙面男子在英格兰南部海岸的多佛港封锁了交通。第二天，一艘载有移民的小船在附近登陆后，数百名头戴巴拉克拉法帽的抗议者在同样位于南部海岸的朴茨茅斯封锁了道路，并与警方发生冲突。

CNN已联系皮丁顿教区委员会和当地议员卡勒姆·米勒征求意见。