Barnham village is set to follow Piddington with its own independence vote as Labour plans to TRIPLE its population with migrants

From the Newshound archive · first published 21 September 2026.

Parish council chairman John Bauer, 66, is leading a delegation to Piddington this week for what he called a "council of war" to plan Barnham's own symbolic referendum. The Suffolk village of around 580 residents faces having 1,250 male asylum seekers housed at nearby RAF Barnham, which would push its population to 1,850. Bauer accused Labour of not caring about small communities forced to absorb the impact, warning the men are "mostly of fighting age, not contained within the site."

Piddington's vote last week — dubbed the 'Battle for Britain' — saw 285 residents back independence and just 26 vote to stay in the UK on a 92 per cent turnout.

Barnham has only a hall, a church and a primary school, with no shop or pub to absorb the sudden population surge.

Officials in Norfolk were separately told a "lot more" migrants than initially announced could end up at government sites in the scheme.