Angela Rayner has approved plans to house more than 1,200 illegal migrants at MoD Bicester as she was accused of “betraying” the people of Piddington.
The small Oxfordshire village home to just 350 people has been relentlessly fighting back against attempts to house migrants near their community.
But the Housing Secretary has today used emergency powers at her disposal to grant planning permission for the site.
Thea approval means the Home Office will now be allowed to progress the proposal, subject to other assessments and consents.
Sources inside the department have “welcomed” Ms Rayner’s decision, insisting the site will pave the way for a “fairer distribution of asylum seekers”, the Express reports.
Greg Smith, the Tory MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, has shared a letter he received confirming the move.
It read: “I am writing to inform you that today the Secretary of State has granted planning permission, subject to conditions, for the Home Office’s application described above.”
The Tory frontbencher took to social media to voice his fury over the decision, branding it a “disaster”.
He wrote: “This is totally outrageous and proves this Government don’t give two hoots about us here in Bucks.”
Mr Smith vowed to “keep working to get this overturned”.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, meanwhile, echoed the sentiments of his colleague, declaring Ms Rayner and the Labour Government had “betrayed the people of Piddington and Bicester by abusing their emergency powers in this way”.
He said: “Using emergency crown planning powers to force a camp for 1,500 young male illegal migrants onto a tiny rural village is sickening. I have met many women from the village who are are scared for their safety but Angela Rayner doesn’t care.
“Instead of accommodating illegal immigrants, the Government should leave the ECHR so illegal immigrants can be rapidly deported.”
The Government is looking to use the site at MoD Bicester to house illegal migrants for at least 10 years.
In September, Piddington residents voiced their opposition to the plans by holding a referendum to leave the UK.
The Oxfordshire residents voting decisively to cut ties with the rest of the country, with 285 out of 312 backing independence.
After the historic independence vote, Andy Burnham said he understood the “strength of feeling” displayed by residents, adding that he aimed to get small boat crossing numbers down.
“The only thing to do is to get the numbers down – the number of crossings down – and they are significantly down,” he said.
Piddington, which now refers to itself as a principality, has held a series of protests against Labour’s proposal.
More to follow…
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