Conservative MP Chris Philp and Reform UK's Zia Yusuf had a heated exchange at a joint press conference in Piddington, Oxfordshire, as they joined villagers protesting against plans to convert a former military site at MoD Bicester into accommodation for more than 1,200 detained asylum seekers. Yusuf asked Philp to apologise for the Conservatives' record on immigration, and Philp, the shadow home secretary, told him to "calm down" and accused him of "cheap politics", an assertion Reform's home affairs spokesman dismissed.
The press conference, led by Piddington Parish Council chairman Tim McNally, followed Housing Secretary Angela Rayner's approval of the Home Office's application to change the use of the site for asylum accommodation. The Home Office said this would allow it to continue developing the plan, but that no final decision on the site had been taken. Piddington, a village of about 350 people, has mounted significant local opposition, and the parish council has said a legal challenge to the planning decision is expected. In September the village symbolically voted to leave the UK over the planned use of the site.S1S2
Philp said a future Conservative government would shut the asylum accommodation "straight away" if it was opened by Labour, and described Yusuf's remarks as "disingenuous", arguing the migrants who could be housed near Piddington will have arrived while Labour has been in power. Yusuf responded that it was "important that we hold everybody accountable" and said Philp had been "heavily involved in immigration and borders policy" in government. Each repeatedly urged the other to "read the room" and stop "point scoring".S1S2
McNally told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there would be "many actions" and that the parish council would disclose them as it moved forward, adding that he expected ministers to be braced for a legal challenge. Labour has vowed to end the use of asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, but demand for asylum accommodation remains high, leaving the government to look for alternative sites such as former military barracks.S1S2
