English village votes to 'break away' from UK over migrant housing plans in symbolic protest

A small English town of Piddington on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted in favour of secession from the United Kingdom during a non-binding referendum, as a protest against plans to house nearly 1,200 asylum seekers on a nearby military base.Nearly 285 people out of 350 voted in favour of secession, compared to 26 in opposition.The parish chairman, Tim McNally, told the Associated Press that the vote sent a clear signal well beyond the village itself. "We have given an absolute message, not just to the region, not just to the country, but to the world," he said. He added that the district would henceforth be known as "the Principality of Piddington."The vote was organised in opposition to proposals to convert the former ministry of defence base at Bicester, roughly half a mile (0.8 kilometres) from the village, into accommodation for male migrants. The government has said the site is "designed to be largely self-sufficient to minimize any impact on the local community."Those in favour of the move described the declaration of independence as a win for local democracy and grassroots public opinion, amid concerns over safety, crime and the effect on house prices.The UK has experienced a wave of anti-immigrant protests since riots broke out two years ago, triggered by the killing of three young girls at a dance class near Liverpool by a teenage attacker. The attacker, who was British-born, had been wrongly identified on social media as a Muslim asylum seeker.Last year, protesters clashed with police outside hotels used to house asylum seekers in London and a number of other cities.In June, masked men in Northern Ireland set fire to several homes in Belfast that they believed were occupied by immigrants, after a Sudanese man was arrested in connection with a stabbing.Earlier this month, masked demonstrators blocked the port of Dover in southeast England and attempted to prevent a boatload of migrants from being brought ashore in Portsmouth, on the country's south coast.Prime Minister Andy Burnham's centre-left Labour government says it is making headway in speeding up the processing of asylum claims, reducing the amount of time migrants spend in state-provided accommodation, and curbing crossings of the English Channel by inflatable dinghy.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.