Residents in Piddington, a small village in Oxfordshire, northwest of London, held a symbolic referendum on Tuesday (September 15) in protest against UK government plans to house around 1,200 male asylum seekers at former military barracks near their community.

That's according to reporting by the BBC, The Independent and other British news outlets.

The symbolic vote follows growing outrage over the British interior ministry project, with neighboring villages joining the movement to oppose the proposed accommodation center.

Piddington, located in Oxfordshire county, decided to hold the vote in July, according to the BBC.

The Home Office, the British interior ministry, said it was "working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country" and that it had saved taxpayers over one billion British pounds on asylum support costs since the 2024 general election, when the governing Labour party took power.

The department stated it is working to distribute asylum seeker housing fairly nationwide by utilizing self-contained former military facilities to minimize local impact. It added that it collaborates with local authorities and police to maintain safety and security in surrounding communities.

In the UK, villages, towns or cities aren't legally allowed to declare independence from the UK. The referendum is, therefore, purely symbolic in nature. However, The Telegraph on Monday reported that "hundreds of other villages and towns nationwide" asked Piddington for advice on copying the campaign, which has been designed as a protest.

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Local opposition and government response

The Home Office initially outlined plans in June to repurpose former military sites as part of a broader policy to transition asylum seekers out of temporary hotel accommodation. This follows similar schemes initiated under the Conservative party to house asylum seekers in military barracks, something that was often criticized by pro-migrant campaigners.

The proposed facility, designated as 'Site A' at the Ministry of Defense site in Bicester, is situated between the rural Oxfordshire villages of Piddington and Upper and Lower Arncott.

The location was previously selected in 2005 for a similar asylum accommodation center proposal, which was ultimately canceled by the government at the time.

Villagers expressed concerns that the rural infrastructure and local services would be overwhelmed by the arrival of 1,200 asylum seekers.

Politicians from the right-wing of British politics, including two shadow MPs, Chris Philp and Joy Morrissey from the Conservative party, as well as former Conservative and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is now a member of the Reform party, have visited Piddington to talk to local residents and express their support for their campaign.

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Political debate

The government's plan has drawn widespread political debate, with ministers addressing local pushback while maintaining efforts to cut back on hotel usage for housing asylum seekers, as noted by The Independent.

What's more, the referendum comes on the heels of anti-migrant protests in the UK on back-to-back weekends.

Last weekend, the city of Portsmouth and the town of Tamworth saw hundreds of anti-immigration protesters rally as well as counter-demonstrators. Three people were reportedly arrested.

The weekend before that, on September 6, the port city of Portsmouth became the scene of violent clashes, a day after hundreds of masked protesters disrupted traffic at the port of Dover to protest against small boat arrivals.