The Prime Minister came under fire on the news channel over his migrant policy.
TalkTVs Peter Cardwell spoke to Piddington resident Tim McNally (Image: TalkTV)
Newly appointed Prime Minister Andy Burnham has refused to engage with the residents of Piddington, despite plans to house 1,250 migrants on their doorstep. Speaking to Peter Cardwell on Talk TV, Tim McNally, the Chairman of Piddington Parish Council, fumed: “Every single media outlet on this globe has reached out to me personally. They’ve managed to get my email address. They’ve got my telephone numbers. Everyone can connect with me in an instant. And yet, since the 20th of July, when we had a live expression of our open letter to the prime minister on the day of his inauguration. He still hasn’t responded.
“The only response we have had…is on my X (formerly Twitter) account. I run an X account called Piddington Roars [and it has] had incredible support from around the world and locally, and from this great nation. We published there the response that our residents got from the Prime Minister, Number 10.
“They wrote back and said we apologise, Andy Burnham is not going to be available to come and visit your village, and the issue and matters regarding the asylum site…we ask you to refer to the Ministry of Defence,” he said.
Piddington residents say their quiet lives will be transformed if a former military site is used to house asylum seekers. The village, which is a 40-minute drive from Oxford, is home to just 268 adults and 46 children, and has no shops or pubs.
But this could all change now due to plans to accommodate up to 1,250 asylum seekers at the nearby MoD Bicester. The former military site sits close to a recreation area, sports pitches and homes, with some residents saying gardens back directly onto the site.
Minister of State in the Home Office Anna Turley told LBC radio: “They’re not going to be in the village, they’re going to be contained in a former military base, they will be allowed out, but everything they need will be on that site.”
Andy Burnham has been heavily criticised over plans to move immigrants into Piddington (Image: PA)
She added: “We are looking at former military bases around the country, we’re also looking at former industrial sites, student accommodation, other means by which we can put people in secure places that is contained and is manageable – going back to the beginning of our conversation – is more affordable than putting people in hotels.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Tuesday that the Government will make sure arrivals are not only placed in “the poorest” communities in the country, and that wealthier communities must also “play their part” in hosting asylum seekers.
He told GB News: “I will listen to what people are saying and respond to the concerns that they are putting forward.I don’t know the issue yet in detail, but in some ways, as I understand it, it is about creating secure space.”
He added: “I do have to say, we cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers. I do believe all parts of the country need to work, to play their part.”