'Outrageous!' Piddington resident blasts 'deafening silence' from Labour as 1,250 migrants set to move into community

A resident in the small village of Piddington has hit out at the Government's "deafening silence" after earmarking his community to house 1,250 asylum seekers.

Speaking to GB News, Jamie Perkin hit out at Prime Minister Andy Burnham for "playing with people's safety" as concerns among locals continue to grow.

The Government has chosen MoD Bicester in Piddington, Oxfordshire, to accommodate around 1,250 single male asylum seekers.

The leafy village has a population of less than 400 people, but an initial 270 asylum seekers are expected to be moved into the former military site by the end of the year.

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Painting a picture of the village, Mr Perkin stressed that there are "a lot of elderly people and a lot of children" in the area.

He told GB News: "Piddington is a very small village. There is 350 or so people, quite a lot of elderly people, quite a lot of children, 100 or so houses, no amenities, no pub, no shop, nothing.

"The closest amenity to the village is a primary school in the village across from us, which is about a mile or so away."

He revealed that since the announcement by the Government that the site has been chosen, there has been no other communication with the residents.

He said: "The 24th of June is when we found out, and then since then, we've been given nothing. We've tried to contact them, we've heard absolutely nothing. It's deafening.

"The deafening silence from the Government since this has been proposed has been outrageous.

"Our chair of the parish council has worked so hard with a lot of people, they have written open letters and got nothing.

"Our parish chair has openly written to Andy Burnham already. This is the chap who took over as Prime Minister this week and a mere 24 hours ago said that his priority is to keep people safe. He can't do that with what he's proposing."

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As a father of three, Mr Perkin expressed particular concern for his young children and their safety, as the local recreation ground backs onto the base.

He told GB News: "I'm a father of a seven year old, a five year old and an eight month old baby. I love the village because it gives me so many good things to do in life, it gives my children freedom. My children play quite literally next to where these people will be.

"Sadly, our daughter is buried in the village, which is why we moved back to the village. It has given me and my family a lot, and it means a lot to most people that live there.

"This isn't a case of 1,250 people just because they're asylum seekers, this could be 1250 anybody.

"If you were to try and quadruple the population of any town, village, city in this country, anywhere, it would not happen."

Mr Perkin stressed that the Government cannot be "playing with people's safety" and housing people "who we do not know" in small communities.

He concluded: "The majority of those people could be very nice people that could contribute to our economy and make it a good place, but we don't know that and we can't be playing with people's safety.

"It's absolutely bonkers. We're not the first and we're not going to be the last. They're going to try this everywhere."

In a statement, a Home Office spokesman said: "We are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into basic accommodation including ex-military sites.

"This is an important step in ending the perception you can arrive illegally and be put up in a hotel.

"The population of asylum seekers in hotels has fallen by 35 per cent in the last year and by 63 per cent from the peak under the previous government.

"Overall asylum costs have already fallen by nearly £1billion since this government was elected."

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