Barnham, a small Suffolk village with 580 residents, is considering holding a non-binding referendum to secede from the UK after the government designated a nearby RAF base to house 1,250 asylum seekers. Inspired by Piddington's symbolic independence vote in Oxfordshire, where 90 per cent voted to leave the UK, residents believe a high-profile referendum could force the government to reconsider the controversial scheme, which would more than double the village's population. Parish council chairman John Bauer is leading a delegation to meet with Piddington's leaders to discuss strategy, arguing that public scrutiny offers the best defence against government indifference to local concerns.

The asylum seeker scheme is intended to reduce reliance on hotel accommodation, but residents have raised serious objections. Barnham lacks basic amenities such as a shop or pub, yet migrants would be permitted to come and go from the base freely. Additional concerns centre on the site's history—it previously housed nuclear and chemical weapons, raising contamination fears—and its designation as a nesting ground for stone curlews, an endangered species where development within 1,500 metres is prohibited. Tensions escalated after leaked details revealed the Home Office could house considerably more migrants than initially disclosed, and violent disorder erupted in nearby Thetford last month when the public learned of plans to quadruple asylum seekers in private accommodation.