Attempt to quash asylum housing plans over safety

An opposition attempt to halt government plans to house more than 1,200 asylum seekers at a former Ministry of Defence site has failed.

The Conservatives tabled the motion to end government plans to house 1,256 male asylum seekers at MoD Bicester in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Proposing that the UK leaves the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), shadow Minister for women and equalities Joy Morrisey said communities were "suffering".

But the government said similar sites to that at Bicester had operated "for years" with "no evidence of any significant increase in criminality".

Watching the debate from the House of Commons' public gallery were the women of Piddington - the Oxfordshire village that last month voted in favour of independence from the UK over the plans for nearby MoD Bicester.

The group of women previously wrote an open letter to female MPs warning that "life as we know it will be destroyed" if the proposals were to succeed.

Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, Morrisey said: "There is a very small village right up against what is going to be a very large asylum camp, which has no additional police protection, which has no additional provision, and the men will be allowed to roam free through the village."

"It will create a safeguarding issue for young children, for girls, and there is no reason why this community should have to suffer."

"They are suffering because we are not deporting these illegal migrants, and that is why we need to leave the ECHR."

But Calum Miller, who is the MP for Bicester and Woodstock, accused Kemi Badenoch's party of "playing party politics with our local issue".

He told the chamber that women and girls in the area had "raised concerns with me about their safety" and that he "understands why they are fearful".

"As a society we are failing to protect them from predatory men and when the worst happens the justice system is not delivering them swift justice."

But he also argued that leaving the ECHR was not the answer as it would "weaken vital protections for British citizens".

"We do not have to abandon those commitments to stop an unsuitable asylum accommodation site," he added.

The parliamentary makeup meant the Tory motion was roundly defeated, with the Labour majority voting against the proposals.

Piddington resident Jo Haw-Cook, who described the village's campaign as "apolitical", told the BBC: "We are concerned about a site of this size, and how disproportionate it is."

She said: "This is not just a rural issue in Oxfordshire, this is a national issue and Piddington has been brave enough as a village to raise that issue, and it was raised today, and we knew that we were unlikely to win the vote because of the European Court issue being added to it as well."

Before the vote, Anna Turley, the Women and Equalities Minister, said public safety was and "always will be right at the forefront" of government thinking on housing asylum seekers.

Among the measures she said would be taken were the site to be approved was 24/7 specialist security, CCTV and work with local police.

She added that similar sites to MoD Bicester had "operated for years" with "no evidence of any significant increase in criminality attributable to the operation".