A tiny Oxfordshire village is planning a symbolic referendum on whether to leave the United Kingdom and join the United States, an unusual protest against a government plan to house asylum seekers at a nearby former military site.
Residents of Piddington have strongly opposed a proposal to accommodate men seeking asylum at a disused Ministry of Defence barracks about a mile from the village. Organizers acknowledge that the referendum would have no legal force and say the point is not genuine secession, but to draw attention to the government’s plans, according to CBS News.
Local Member of Parliament Calum Miller, who represents Bicester and Woodstock, has said the Bicester Garrison site could accommodate as many as 1,250 people — more than three times Piddington’s population.
Parish Council chairman Tim McNally, one of the leading organizers of the protest, has compared the village’s campaign — and his own role in it — to George Washington’s fight for American independence.
“Washington brought change. I am going to make the change and then give away the power like he did,” McNally told The Sun newspaper. “If we vote to leave, we are going down to the U.S. Embassy and bring our declaration to them.”
The campaign began in earnest on July 4, when Piddington residents held a preliminary vote on whether to proceed with a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom. According to BBC News, 96 percent of those who participated supported holding the later ballot.
Organizers have described the exercise as political theater designed to force national attention on a dispute they say has received too little consideration from officials in London.
Supporters argue that Whitehall announced the asylum accommodation plan without adequate consultation with the surrounding community and that the referendum is intended to demonstrate how strongly residents object to decisions that would have an immediate effect on their small rural parish.
The proposed asylum site has also drawn opposition from critics with a very different perspective.
Jane Coles, of the Oxfordshire branch of Stand up to Racism, told the BBC that she opposed the “inhumane warehousing” of asylum seekers at facilities such as the Bicester barracks.
“It would become a magnet for right-wing agitators and it will have a really polarizing effect on the population,” she said. “We believe the government would be better putting the money into the Home Office to ensure the system for processing asylum claims is much more efficient and much quicker, so the need for this kind of housing will be very much reduced.”
Piddington’s protest has already attracted attention far beyond Oxfordshire.
American entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has frequently criticized immigration policies in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, weighed in on the dispute on Twitter.
“What has happened to towns who did nothing to deserve it, like little Piddington village, will happen to all of Britain, unless there is fundamental political change,” said Musk. “It’s not right. Not right at all.”
What has happened to towns who did nothing to deserve it, like little Piddington village, will happen to all of Britain, unless there is fundamental political change.
It’s not right. Not right at all. https://t.co/70IKleHGlk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026
The Home Office has defended its broader policy of converting former military properties into asylum accommodation, saying the facilities are part of an effort to reduce the government’s reliance on hotels.
Whatever residents decide in their symbolic referendum, the campaign has turned one of Oxfordshire’s smallest villages into a focal point in Britain’s continuing debate over asylum policy, local control and how much say communities should have when the national government places large accommodation centers nearby.
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