The parish council chair of Piddington, an English village with a population of around 350, has told Newsweek they plan to formally ask to join the United States if the British government goes ahead with its plan to house 1,250 male asylum seekers at a site on the edge of the village. President Trump has made little secret of his desire to expand American territory, suggesting at various points that Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal could come under Washington’s authority. Speaking to Newsweek, Piddington chair Tim McNally said the parish council would proceed with plans to join the US unless the asylum plan is scrapped, adding: “We know conversations have been had with [President] Trump about this.” McNally said the Piddington parish council could seek “the support of the United States to become their 51st state” adding that they had written a letter to President Trump and sent a dossier to the American embassy laying out their case.
Parish councilor Joe Marshall told Newsweek he backs the proposal commenting: “It’s a great idea. America have done this before… America have had their independence and civil war and I think for us we are at the beginning of ours. I think going to America and showing them we are paying our taxes without representation in the same way to how America felt 250 years ago… “President Trump is one of those people that has a moral compass which means when certain things don’t sit right with him he holds our government to account over it.
Ultimately this is a topic that’s quite high up in his agenda because it covers both military and also the immigration system…I’m sure it’s something he’d happily grant us an opportunity to join or at least be recognized.” Referring to the impact joining the US would have on Piddington, Marshall said: “There will be an element of change potentially and I think it could be a quirky change. I went to Bermuda last year and that’s a British territory and it’s got little bits of Britishness around paradise. And I think that’s probably what we’re going to have little bits of America.” Councilor Michael Nixon added: “We’ve not had direct conversations with the American government but what we have had is a huge huge amount of support from the US, from members of the public.
I personally have received emails from all over the US saying ‘we would welcome you’ and that’s really appreciated because that’s just ordinary people saying we recognize what you’re doing. We did it 250 years ago it’s your turn.” Newsweek contacted the British Home Office and the U.S. State Department for comment via telephone and email respectively.
The latter was done outside of regular office hours. On Tuesday, Piddington voted to “secede from the UK and pursue self-determination” in a symbolic vote in response to the proposals. The referendum, which lacks legal authority, had a turnout of 91.8 percent with 285 voting for independence, 26 against and one spoiling their ballot.
McNally said the parish council had been informed in late June of the government’s plans to house asylum seekers at MOD Bicester, a military camp that backs onto Piddington’s playing fields. In a response on July 4, a date deliberately chosen to coincide with American Independence Day, the council organized a preliminary vote asking villagers if there should be a full independence referendum. This passed overwhelmingly leading to Tuesday’s independence vote.
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