English village votes to ‘secede’ from U.K. over asylum center plan
Signs referring to a proposed asylum accommodation center are displayed beside a road near a former military site outside Piddington, England, on Sept. 8. The village announced Wednesday that a vast majority of residents had voted to exit the U.K. in an "independence referendum." | REUTERS
Sep 16, 2026
LONDON – An English village of around 350 people announced Wednesday that a vast majority of residents had voted to exit the U.K. in an “independence referendum” in protest at plans to house over 1,200 migrants in a nearby facility.
Piddington in central England, 25 kilometers from the university city of Oxford, has grabbed headlines with its tongue-in-cheek breakaway vote.
The village’s parish council announced that with 312 ballots counted, 285 had voted to secede from Britain over plans to house asylum seekers in a nearby disused military site, in a symbolic vote with no recognized legal basis.
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