A small English village is fighting back against its own government, voting to declare independence rather than accept a massive influx of migrants into their community.
The roughly couple hundred residents of Piddington, Oxfordshire, voted on July 4 to separate from the United Kingdom, pushing back against authorities seeking to place large numbers of illegal male migrants in their area. The vote passed by an overwhelming 96 percent majority, with the final tally coming in at 185-7.
At the center of the dispute is the Home Office’s June 26 decision to relocate nearly 4,000 migrants to three rural former military bases. One of those sites, the Ministry of Defense Bicester base, sits directly next to Piddington, with a fence running alongside many residents’ homes. The base also borders a children’s playground built by the parish council.
An estimated 1,250 single adult male asylum seekers, ages 18 to 65, are expected to be sent to the Bicester base — more than four times the population of the entire village. The relocation is part of the Labour government’s push to end the use of hotels for housing migrants awaiting case processing, a system that has drawn heavy criticism and cost British taxpayers billions of pounds. The Home Office plans to use the camp for at least 10 years.
Piddington Parish Council chair Tim McNally said residents feel blindsided, telling the Daily Caller that no one from the government reached out to warn or consult the village before the announcement. Local resident Ian Darby echoed that frustration to GB News, saying there had been “no consultation at all on this process.”
McNally noted the government’s own announcement mislabeled the site, calling it “MOD Bicester” even though the town of Bicester itself sits seven miles away and won’t be meaningfully affected. “They’ve hidden it under a word,” he said.
A Home Office whistleblower had tipped McNally off weeks before the government quietly dropped the announcement on a Friday. When villagers held an emergency meeting the following Monday, McNally said the mood was one of resignation, which left him angry. The idea to declare independence struck him the next day after he passed a roadside sign reading “Jeremy Clarkson for King.” Thinking of the timing near Independence Day and the film “The Mouse That Roared,” McNally said he saw an opportunity for the “plucky little village” to make its stand.
The village hopes to deliver its referendum to the U.S. Embassy in England, in a nod to America’s own declaration of independence 250 years ago, so it can be passed along to the American government.
Time is short. McNally said the whistleblower reported that utility companies for water, electricity and plumbing are set to begin work around the first week of September, even though the government hasn’t disclosed the full plan it’s legally required to release.
McNally described the community’s mood as shifting “from despair to feeling trapped, feeling cheated, and feeling, quite frankly, just disrespected,” adding that no official has reached out to him as the village’s representative. Still, he said residents are determined. “We’re all pulling together,” McNally said. “There’s no doubt about it. But the biggest fear, and I use the word the biggest fear, is feeling helplessness.”
