Residents of the English village of Piddington voted in a referendum to “secede from Great Britain and seek self-determination.” Parish Council Chairman Tim McNally told Newsweek of the residents' intention to join the United States.
The turnout at the vote was 91.8%, 285 people voted for independence, 26 against it, and one ballot was invalid. The population of the village, according to the publication, is about 350 people. Residents plan to formally apply to join the United States if the British government goes ahead with its plan to house 1,250 male refugees on the outskirts of the community.
According to McNally, residents turned to the United States to “become their 51st state,” writing a letter to President Donald Trump and sending a dossier to the American embassy outlining their position.
“This is a great idea. America has done this before. America has had its own independence and its own civil war, and I think we're just at the beginning of it,” parish council member Joe Marshall told Newsweek.
Speaking to Newsweek, a UK Home Office spokesman said the department understands the strong feelings of the villagers and is “listening carefully to concerns raised” about housing refugees.
The proposal to convert an abandoned military base into housing for migrants was submitted as part of an urgent application for infrastructure development, Newsweek clarifies. At the same time, local residents fear for their safety.
But not everyone assesses what is happening as a real risk to the population. In an interview with The Guardian, Rachel Marsh said she was one of 26 villagers who voted against independence and called it “just a publicity stunt”. The referendum itself is only symbolic and has no legal force.
“There is currently no legal mechanism for a village to declare independence from Britain. This unprecedented step could only happen with the consent of the government and parliament,” emphasizes the British publication The Sun.
By the way, Trump has repeatedly stated the possibility of expanding the territory of the United States. The American president argued that Canada, the Panama Canal and Greenland could come under Washington's control. However, this caused negativity among local residents of the mentioned territories, although the day before Trump announced the conclusion of an open-ended US agreement with Denmark and Greenland, according to which Washington gains full control over security in the region.
