MPs reject Tory bid to halt Bicester asylum site as Piddington women watch from gallery

MPs have voted down a Conservative motion that would have halted plans to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers at MoD Bicester, near the Oxfordshire village of Piddington.

The opposition day motion, titled "MoD Bicester and illegal migrants", was defeated by 309 votes to 113 at 16:42 BST on Wednesday 14th October, according to the Commons division record. As well as ending the plans for the site, the motion proposed leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the BBC reported.

Women from Piddington watched the debate from the public gallery, according to the BBC.

Opening for the Conservatives, Joy Morrissey said: "They are suffering because we are not deporting these illegal migrants, and that is why we need to leave the ECHR."

The local Liberal Democrat MP, Calum Miller, opposes the site but did not vote for the motion. He accused the Conservatives of "playing party politics with our local issue" and said women and girls had "raised concerns with me about their safety". He argued that leaving the ECHR would "weaken vital protections for British citizens", adding: "We do not have to abandon those commitments to stop an unsuitable asylum accommodation site."

For the government, the Women and Equalities Minister, Anna Turley, promised 24/7 specialist security, CCTV and work with local police, the BBC reported. She also said there was "no evidence of any significant increase in criminality attributable to the operation".

Last month, Piddington villagers voted by 285 to 26 to "leave" the UK in a symbolic referendum organised by the parish council, the BBC reported. The site, known as Site A, lies between Piddington and Upper and Lower Arncott.

Restore Britain's prospective candidate for Bicester and Woodstock, Stuart Watton, criticised Mr Miller in a video posted by the party ahead of the vote. "He says he opposes the site. He says he stands with residents," Mr Watton said. "Then the opportunity arrives, a vote in the House of Commons against the site. But he won't take it." He added: "I would have voted for that motion if I was your MP, and I will keep saying so."

After the vote, Restore Britain's transport spokesman, Howard Cox, wrote on X that Labour had been "cowardly voting to allow 1250 illegal immigrants to invade Piddington in a @joymorrissey Tory motion to stop it". The plans are for up to 1,256 asylum seekers.

Image: Motacilla, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons