Piddington, a village of a few hundred people in Oxfordshire, voted 285 to 26 on Tuesday to declare itself independent of the United Kingdom. The result was announced Wednesday morning outside the village hall, to residents and a crowd of reporters. Of 312 ballots cast, 91 percent backed leaving, on a turnout of 92 percent.
The vote is symbolic and has no legal force. It was called to protest a Home Office plan to house 1,256 single adult male asylum seekers at a former military site near the village, about four and a half miles southeast of Bicester. The Home Office intends to use the Urgent Crown Development process, which bypasses local planning authorities.
“We have given an absolute message, not just to the region, not just to the country, but to the world,” said parish council chairman Tim McNally, who has said the village should now be known as “the Principality of Piddington.”
The village has been asking to be heard since summer. On July 4, residents met in the village hall and voted 175 to 7 to hold this referendum. Before the vote, vice-chairman Mike Nixon said the frustration had only grown. “Andy Burnham did say that he’s willing to listen, but we’ve had no formal contact,” he said. “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?’”
The government answered with sympathy and no change of course. “We are listening, we do hear the clear frustration of the community in Piddington,” Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said, adding that the government had “inherited a massive asylum backlog.” The Home Office said it is “working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites,” and the government has said it is not changing its plans.
After the result, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would look at the village’s concerns, without committing to a change. “It’s difficult, and obviously I will look at the issues being raised by the community and in the referendum, but we have to ensure that we have a fair plan, as well as getting the numbers down, and the numbers are coming down significantly now,” he said. PA Media reported that no final decision on the site has been made.
Piddington voted a day after the leaders of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland signed a declaration in Cardiff that “no Westminster government has the right to block democracy.”
The ballot changes nothing in law, and no one in Piddington claims otherwise. What the ballot measured was consent. London chose the site without asking the people who live beside it. When the village asked itself, 285 of 312 voters chose to leave. The government’s answer, so far, is that its plans stand.
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