Why this English village wants to leave the UK

If a small village in the Cotswolds holding a vote on leaving the UK wasn’t on your bingo card for 2026, then don’t worry, you’re not alone. Subscribe But this morning, at a very precise 7.05am, the result of Piddington village’s referendum was announced. At the heart of their fallout with the UK, that it’s still very much a part of, there’s a disused Ministry of Defence site on the outskirts of the small village, and the government plans to convert it to a housing facility for more than 1,200 asylum seekers. As one villager, Louise Brooker, tells me: “It’s the disproportionate nature of it. Andy Burnham says, as a country, we all have to do our bit, and as Piddington, we’re prepared to do that. But it’s completely disproportionate to put 1,256 men into a village of less than 350 people”. Scaremongering? But other villagers talk to us about fears that it will make their small community less safe. Gina Perkin, whose family has lived in the village for generations, says a government pamphlet to asylum seekers on how to behave in the UK has made her worry. Get more from Channel 4 News in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android Get the app “I think that is highlighting the potential risks that we could be at. I’m not saying they will happen, but a risk is not worth taking on your children and on mine.” The man leading the charge for the newly christened Principality of Piddington is the parish council chairman, Tim McNally, pictured below . He pushed back when I put it to him that some might see it as scaremongering, focusing on potential crimes from people he didn’t know anything about. “I know nothing about the people that are coming here. Do you read the news? Do you follow what goes on? The type of people coming in are not the sort of people who actually assimilate into our society. There’s evidence there,” he said. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he understood the village’s “strength of feeling” but there needed to be fairness across the country. “This involves difficult decisions. I’m not saying that only one part of the country or one group of communities should do all of the work.” However, he added he’d promised to get the use of asylum hotels down. No legal standing On the surface, this referendum was just a bit of showmanship, a PR stunt. It holds no actual legal standing – you won’t need a passport to visit the village. But ask the villagers here and it is about so much more, it’s about democracy, having a voice in matters on your doorstep, and is reflective of the deep divisions up and down the country over how we manage migration. And those divisions are playing out here too. Share Rachel feels a responsibility to speak up: “As a mother of mixed heritage children I’m not going to stay silent”. She has lived in the village for two decades, and while she disagrees with the scale of the proposed site, she feels uncomfortable with the tone in which some have been making their arguments. Genuine fears “You know, the campaign became increasingly xenophobic. And that was all in relation to, you know, fear mongering and whipping people up into some sort of hysteria. And, you know, I do absolutely have empathy for the villagers who feel frightened, but I feel equally as concerned about 5,000 to 10,000 men from the Patriot platform making their presence.” That’s in relation to a promise from the controversial anti-immigration figure Danny Tommo to visit the village this week. As ever, there is nuance and genuine fears on both sides about what may be. Legitimate concerns on what happens when a village essentially quadruples in size overnight, and the arguments being made around that. And a frustration all round, that their voice is being ignored. Subscribe Share Channel 4 News Leave a commentRead More