Children send heartbreaking letters to Andy Burnham as PM under pressure over plan to put 1,250 migrants in tiny village
The Prime Minister was on holiday when children in the Oxfordshire village of Piddington expressed their fears in letters sent to No10
The Prime Minister was on holiday when children in the Oxfordshire village of Piddington expressed their fears in letters sent to No10
Children in the tiny village of Piddington have sent a series of heartbreaking letters to Andy Burnham as the Prime Minister faces mounting pressure to halt plans to put 1,250 migrants in the hamlet.
Mr Burnham, who is currently on holiday, was urged to U-turn after Labour revealed it intended to place asylum seekers at MoD Bicester.
Piddington is home to just 250 adults and 46 children, meaning the migrant population could soon be more than double the number of local inhabitants.
Locals recently voted for independence from the UK amid fears about the plan, with residents tonight discussing whether to join the United States instead.
In one letter, which has been seen by GB News, seven-year-old Rex Perkin wrote: "Dear Andy, We like our village because I and my family walk down to my sister’s grave to see her.
"I worry I won’t be able to do that anymore My family has lived here for over 100 years.
"I love the playing field in Piddington because I (go) there every week. Thanks Andy."
"This is for the 300-400 people in the village as well as dogs who won’t be able to go sniffing in the bushes as much."
Meanwhile, nine-year-old Orla West warned: "I do not like this idea because we love our park. We can walk our dogs. We love Piddington."
However, the Home Office confirmed earlier this year that it had sought planning permission for three sites to house thousands of small boat migrants.
The push is part of Labour's efforts to close expensive migrant hotel accommodation across the country.
Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire and Barnham in Suffolk have also been earmarked to house asylum seekers, with Wethersfield in Essex and Crowborough in East Sussex poised for an expansion in capacity.
Home Office data compiled in March this year found 20,885 asylum seekers were still in hotels, with 72,768 being placed in other accommodation as they awaited decisions.
Around 185 asylum hotels remain open, down from a peak of around 400.
However, the Ministry of Defence also revealed earlier this year that there were 725 Armed Forces personnel and 183 civilian staff located at MOD Bicester.
Labour previously considered using the site to construct a purpose-built asylum centre in 2001 before dropping its plans just four years later.
Speaking to GB News last month, Bicester's Liberal Democrat MP Calum Miller said: "I think the real problem is that the Government is just moving people around from inappropriate and expensive locations and hotels to inappropriate and expensive locations on MOD sites.
"And what we need instead is the Government to do much more to stop the core problem, which is that the Conservatives and Labour have allowed the number of people waiting for their asylum hearings to go up exponentially, particularly under the Conservatives.
"The Government needs to do much, much more to invest in bringing that down by having more rapid hearings so that they can be either allowed to start building lives in the United Kingdom or to be sent back to their home countries."