MPs Reject Conservative Bid to Condemn Piddington Asylum Plans and Leave the ECHR

MPs voted by 309 to 113 on Wednesday to reject a Conservative Opposition Day motion that condemned government plans to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers at a former Ministry of Defence site near the Oxfordshire village of Piddington and called for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights in order to deport illegal migrants.

The motion, tabled by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, shadow home secretary Chris Philp and shadow women and equalities minister Joy Morrissey, stated: “That this House condemns the Government’s plan to place illegal migrants in MoD Bicester; and calls on the Government to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights in order to deport illegal migrants.” It was defeated by a majority of 196 in Division 85, held at around 3.42pm.

The Village That Roared

The vote followed months of local protest in Piddington, a village of roughly 350 residents about 4.5 miles southeast of Bicester. On 15 September—Battle of Britain Day—residents held a symbolic parish council referendum on the question of whether Piddington should “secede from the UK and pursue self-determination.” Of 312 votes counted (nearly 92% turnout of papers issued), 285 backed independence, 26 opposed it, and one ballot was spoiled. Results were announced the next morning outside the village hall by returning officer Susannah Parden. Parish chair Tim McNally declared the village the “Principality of Piddington” and described the day as a “Battle for Britain.” Signs appeared at the village boundary and residents celebrated what they called a clear democratic message.⁠Lbc

The non-binding vote was a protest against Home Office proposals to convert part of the former Bicester Garrison (Site A) into accommodation for single adult male asylum seekers as an alternative to hotels. The site is roughly half a mile to a couple of miles from the village. Residents, particularly women, have cited safety concerns, the scale of the numbers relative to the local population (nearly four-to-one), limited pedestrian access, pressure on services, and a perceived lack of consultation. Some have taken self-defence classes or installed extra security. Conservative and Reform figures, including Badenoch and Morrissey, visited the village; women from Piddington travelled to Westminster ahead of the debate.

The Parliamentary Vote

Ayes were concentrated among Conservatives (around 100), Reform UK (7), and a handful of others including DUP, TUV, Restore Britain and one independent. Noes were dominated by Labour (292), with support from the SNP (7), Greens (4), Plaid Cymru (4), the SDLP and one other. Liberal Democrats tabled an amendment that criticised the specific site as unsuitable while opposing ECHR withdrawal and calling for faster processing and an end to large sites and hotels; they did not back the original motion.

The government maintains that large military sites form part of a strategy to clear the asylum backlog, close hotels, process claims faster and remove those without a right to remain. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and others have pointed to falling small-boat numbers and accelerated processing. Critics of the motion argued that leaving the ECHR would not solve operational problems and would weaken domestic rights protections. The government has also faced separate local challenges: Thames Valley Police and ecologists have noted that development would require Natural England licences for protected wildlife, including bats, potentially delaying the scheme until 2028 or later. The site remains subject to planning processes under an Urgent Crown Development application; no final decision has been confirmed as operational.

Wider Context

More than 20,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far in 2026. The Piddington case has become a focal point for debates over the use of disused military sites (alongside others such as those near Linton-on-Ouse and Barnham), local consent, women’s safety, and the legal framework governing removals. Parish councils elsewhere have reportedly contacted Piddington for advice on similar protests. Thames Valley’s Police and Crime Commissioner has estimated significant extra policing costs if the site proceeds.

The vote itself has no direct legal effect on the planning application. It does, however, place on record where individual MPs stood on both the specific proposal and the broader question of ECHR membership. Full division lists are available on the Parliament website and in reporting from the Express. For residents of Piddington, the result means the campaign continues through planning objections, local pressure and, for some, the symbolic assertion of the “village that roars.”

The outcome underscores the political divide: opposition parties seeking a hard line on illegal migration and site selection versus a Labour government under Prime Minister Andy Burnham prioritising backlog clearance and international legal obligations while facing local and parliamentary pushback. Further developments on the Bicester application and related wildlife licensing are expected in the coming weeks and months.

Who voted and where?

Ayes (for the motion)

Stuart Andrew

Edward Argar

Victoria Atkins

Gareth Bacon

Kemi Badenoch

Harriett Baldwin

Steve Barclay

Bob Blackman Sarah Bool

Andrew Bowie

Karen Bradley

Aphra Brandreth

Alex Burghart

James Cartlidge

Christopher Chope

James Cleverly

Lewis Cocking

Claire Coutinho (proxy)

Geoffrey Cox

Gareth Davies

Mims Davies

Charlie Dewhirst

Caroline Dinenage

Oliver Dowden

Iain Duncan Smith

Luke Evans

Peter Fortune

Ashley Fox

Mark Francois

George Freeman

Louie French

Richard Fuller

Mark Garnier

John Glen

Andrew Griffith

Alison Griffiths

Rebecca Harris

John Hayes

Damian Hinds

Richard Holden

Kevin Hollinrake (Chairman of CP)

Paul Holmes

Nigel Huddleston

Neil Hudson

Jeremy Hunt

Bernard Jenkin

Caroline Johnson

Lincoln Jopp

Katie Lam

John Lamont

Edward Leigh

Julian Lewis

Julia Lopez

Douglas Lumsden

Alan Mak

Kit Malthouse

Jerome Mayhew

Esther McVey

Andrew Mitchell

Gagan Mohindra

Robbie Moore

Joy Morrissey

Wendy Morton

Kieran Mullan

David Mundell

Andrew Murrison

Jesse Norman

Neil O’Brien

Ben Obese-Jecty

Priti Patel

Rebecca Paul

Chris Philp

Mark Pritchard

Shivani Raja

Jack Rankin

David Reed

Joe Robertson

Neil Shastri-Hurst

Greg Smith

Rebecca Smith

Julian Smith

Andrew Snowden

Ben Spencer

Patrick Spencer

Gregory Stafford

Blake Stephenson

Mel Stride

Graham Stuart

Bradley Thomas

Nick Timothy

Laura Trott

Tom Tugendhat

Martin Vickers

Matt Vickers

Helen Whately

John Whittingdale

James Wild

Gavin Williamson

Mike Wood

Jeremy Wright

Lee Anderson

Suella Braverman

Nigel Farage

Danny Kruger

Sarah Pochin

Andrew Rosindell

Richard Tice

Jim Shannon

James McMurdock

Rupert Lowe

Jim Allister

Noes (against the motion)

Siân Berry

Ellie Chowns

Carla Denyer

Hannah Spencer

Ann Davies

Ben Lake

Llinos Medi

Liz Saville Roberts

Kirsty Blackman

Dave Doogan

Chris Law

Graham Leadbitter

Seamus Logan

Brendan O’Hara

Pete Wishart

Kirsty Blackman

Dave Doogan

Chris Law

Graham Leadbitter

Seamus Logan

Brendan O’Hara

Pete Wishart

Colum Eastwood

Zarah Sultana

Jack Abbott

Sagal Abdi-Wali

Debbie Abrahams

Zubir Ahmed

Luke Akehurst

Sadik Al-Hassan

Rushanara Ali

Tahir Ali

Rosena Allin-Khan

Fleur Anderson

Scott Arthur

Jess Asato

James Asser

Jas Athwal

Catherine Atkinson

Lewis Atkinson

Calvin Bailey

Olivia Bailey

David Baines

Richard Baker

Alex Ballinger

Antonia Bance

Paula Barker

Lee Barron

Alex Barros-Curtis

Johanna Baxter

Danny Beales

Lorraine Beavers

Torsten Bell

Hilary Benn

Clive Betts

Polly Billington

Matt Bishop

Olivia Blake

Rachel Blake

Elsie Blundell

Kevin Bonavia

Jade Botterill

Sureena Brackenridge

Jonathan Brash

Phil Brickell

Richard Burgon

Maureen Burke

David Burton-Sampson

Ian Byrne

Liam Byrne

Ruth Cadbury

Nesil Caliskan

Markus Campbell-Savours

Irene Campbell

Juliet Campbell

Dan Carden

Sam Carling

Al Carns

Sarah Champion

Bambos Charalambous

Luke Charters

Ben Coleman

Jacob Collier

Lizzi Collinge

Tom Collins

Liam Conlon

Sarah Coombes

Andrew Cooper

Beccy Cooper

Deirdre Costigan

Pam Cox

Neil Coyle

Jen Craft

Mary Creagh

Stella Creasy

Torcuil Crichton

Chris Curtis

Janet Daby

Nicholas Dakin

Ashley Dalton

Emily Darlington

Paul Davies

Shaun Davies

Marsha De Cordova

Josh Dean

Kate Dearden

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

Jim Dickson

Anna Dixon

Anneliese Dodds

Helena Dollimore

Stephen Doughty

Peter Dowd

Graeme Downie

Neil Duncan-Jordan

Maria Eagle

Cat Eccles

Lauren Edwards

Sarah Edwards

Clive Efford

Kirith Entwistle

Florence Eshalomi

Bill Esterson

Miatta Fahnbulleh

Hamish Falconer

Linsey Farnsworth

Josh Fenton-Glynn

Patricia Ferguson

Emma Foody

Paul Foster

Vicky Foxcroft

Mary Kelly Foy

Daniel Francis

Gill Furniss

Allison Gardner

Alan Gemmell

Gill German

Tracy Gilbert

Preet Kaur Gill

Becky Gittins

Ben Goldsborough

Jodie Gosling

Georgia Gould

John Grady

Lilian Greenwood

Nia Griffith

Amanda Hack

Fabian Hamilton

Carolyn Harris

Lloyd Hatton

Helen Hayes

Claire Hazelgrove

Mark Hendrick

Meg Hillier

Chris Hinchliff

Jonathan Hinder

Sharon Hodgson

Rachel Hopkins

Rupa Huq

Patrick Hurley

Imran Hussain

Natasha Irons

Sally Jameson

Diana Johnson

Darren Jones

Gerald Jones

Lillian Jones

Ruth Jones

Warinder Juss

Chris Kane

Liz Kendall

Afzal Khan

Naushabah Khan

Jayne Kirkham

Gen Kitchen

Sonia Kumar

Laura Kyrke-Smith

Peter Lamb

Ian Lavery

Noah Law

Kim Leadbeater

Brian Leishman

Andrew Lewin

Clive Lewis

Rebecca Long Bailey

Andy MacNae

Seema Malhotra

Rachael Maskell

Alex Mayer

Douglas McAllister

Kerry McCarthy

Martin McCluskey

Siobhain McDonagh

Andy McDonald

John McDonnell

Blair McDougall

Lola McEvoy

Pat McFadden

Alison McGovern

Alex McIntyre

Gordon McKee

Kevin McKenna

Catherine McKinnell

Frank McNally

Anneliese Midgley

Julie Minns

Navendu Mishra

Abtisam Mohamed

Perran Moon

Jessica Morden

Grahame Morris

Joe Morris

Luke Murphy

Chris Murray

James Murray

Luke Myer

Connor Naismith

Lisa Nandy

Pamela Nash

Josh Newbury

Samantha Niblett,

Alex Norris

Melanie Onn

Chi Onwurah

Simon Opher

Kate Osamor

Tristan Osborne

Taiwo Owatemi

Sarah Owen

Darren Paffey

Andrew Pakes

Matthew Patrick

Michael Payne

Stephanie Peacock

Matthew Pennycook

Jess Phillips

Bridget Phillipson

David Pinto-Duschinsky

Lee Pitcher

Jo Platt

Joe Powell

Gregor Poynton

Peter Prinsley

Richard Quigley

Yasmin Qureshi

Steve Race

Andrew Ranger

Angela Rayner

Mike Reader

Steve Reed

Ellie Reeves

Bell Ribeiro-Addy

Marie Rimmer

Dave Robertson

Tim Roca

Sam Rushworth

Sarah Russell

Oliver Ryan

Michelle Scrogham

Mark Sewards

Naz Shah

Baggy Shanker

Tulip Siddiq

Andy Slaughter

David Smith

Sarah Smith

Karin Smyth

Gareth Snell

Alex Sobel

Euan Stainbank

Jo Stevens

Kenneth Stevenson

Elaine Stewart

Alan Strickland,

Lauren Sullivan

Kirsteen Sullivan

Peter Swallow

Mark Tami

Alison Taylor

Rachel Taylor

Gareth Thomas

Adam Thompson

Emily Thornberry

Marie Tidball

Stephen Timms

Jessica Toale

Dan Tomlinson

Jon Trickett

Henry Tufnell

Anna Turley

Matt Turmaine

Laurence Turner

Derek Twigg

Liz Twist

Harpreet Uppal

Tony Vaughan

Valerie Vaz

Chris Vince

Christian Wakeford

Chris Ward

Melanie Ward

Paul Waugh

Chris Webb

Catherine West

Andrew Western

Matt Western

Jo White

Katie White

Nadia Whittome

David Williams

Steve Witherden

Sean Woodcock

Yuan Yang

Mohammad Yasin

Steve Yemm

Daniel Zeichner

No Vote Recorded

Sorcha Eastwood

Stuart Anderson

Peter Bedford

Saqib Bhatti

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

John Cooper

Alberto Costa

Harriet Cross

David Davis

Roger Gale

Helen Grant

Simon Hoare

Alec Shelbrooke

Rishi Sunak

Desmond Swayne

Gregory Campbell

Carla Lockhart

Gavin Robinson

Sammy Wilson

Judith Cummins

Nusrat Ghani

Caroline Nokes

Adrian Ramsay

Shockat Adam

Bayo Alaba

Rosie Duffield

Alex Easton

Adnan Hussain

Ayoub Khan

Iqbal Mohamed

Dan Norris (Suspended)

Cameron Thomas

Karl Turner

Diane Abbott

Dan Aldridge

Heidi Alexander

Douglas Alexander

Callum Anderson

Tonia Antoniazzi

Alex Baker

Apsana Begum

Chris Bloore

Chris Bryant

Julia Buckley

Andy Burnham

Dawn Butler

Alan Campbell

Feryal Clark

Yvette Cooper

Alex Davies-Jones

Jonathan Davies

Samantha Dixon

Angela Eagle

Damien Egan

Maya Ellis

Chris Elmore

Chris Evans

Mark Ferguson

Natalie Fleet

Catherine Fookes

James Frith

Barry Gardiner

Anna Gelderd

Mary Glindon

Louise Haigh

Sarah Hall

Paulette Hamilton

Emma Hardy

Tom Hayes

John Healey

Alison Hume

Leigh Ingham

Dan Jarvis

Terry Jermy

Adam Jogee

Kim Johnson

Sarah Jones

Gurinder Singh Josan

Sojan Joseph

Mike Kane

Satvir Kaur

Stephen Kinnock

Uma Kumaran

Peter Kyle

David Lammy

Emma Lewell

Simon Lightwood

Josh MacAlister

Alice Macdonald

Justin Madders

Shabana Mahmood

Amanda Martin

Keir Mather

Chris McDonald

Jim McMahon

Anna McMorrin

Kirsty McNeill

Ed Miliband

Stephen Morgan

Margaret Mullane

Ian Murray

Katrina Murray

James Naish

Kanishka Narayan

Charlotte Nichols

Abena Oppong-Asare

Kate Osborne

Jon Pearce

Toby Perkins

Luke Pollard

Lucy Powell

Connor Rand

Rachel Reeves

Joani Reid

Emma Reynolds

Jonathan Reynolds

Martin Rhodes

Jake Richards

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter

Lucy Rigby

Matt Rodda

Tom Rutland

Sarah Sackman

Louise Sandher-Jones

Jeevun Sandher

Michael Shanks

John Slinger

Cat Smith

Jeff Smith

Nick Smith

Will Stone

Alistair Strathern

Wes Streeting

Graham Stringer

Mike Tapp

David Taylor

Nick Thomas-Symonds

Fred Thomas

Imogen Walker

Michelle Welsh

John Whitby

Rosie Wrighting

Robert Jenrick

Lara Bird

Órfhlaith Begley

Pat Cullen

John Finucane

Chris Hazzard

Dáire Hughes

Cathal Mallaghan

Paul Maskey

Claire Hanna

Lindsay Hoyle

Robin Swann

Jeremy Corbyn