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'It’s a beautiful, idyllic village, but it’s being turned upside down, just like their lives,' the Reform home affairs spokesman said

Zia Yusuf has launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Andy Burnham over plans to accommodate 1,250 asylum seekers in the tiny village of Piddington.

Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK home affairs spokesman said residents were “terrified” and “feel powerless” over the plans.

Residents of Piddington, found near Bicester, have launched several campaigns to stop asylum seekers being moved into their community, with the Prime Minister yet to address any of their concerns.

“I’m here talking to residents who are doing an unbelievable and heroic job to try to raise awareness,” Mr Yusuf began.

“It’s a beautiful, idyllic village, but it’s being turned upside down, just like their lives.

“The children in this area, their childhoods are being turned upside down.

“There’s a real sense of fear in this area, and fear is the right word. It’s not just anxiety; it is fear, and rightly so,” he insisted.

“How would you feel if you lived in a small village, a tiny village like this, of about 350 people, and then it turned out your own government was dumping 1,250 unvetted men into your area without consulting you, without your consent?”

The Reform home affairs spokesman asked: “What kind of a government does this to its own people?

“It’s clear Andy Burnham simply doesn’t care about the people of Piddington,” he said.“

The ratio of men to women after these 1,250 illegal migrants are dumped on this village, it’s going to go to five to six to one,” he said.

“I want to emphasise again, just imagine what that would be like, knowing your own Government, your own Prime Minister was doing this to you.”

Mr Yusuf also criticised the Prime Minister's apparent failure to honour his promise to give local communities greater power.

“Remember, within days of becoming Prime Minister, Andy Burnham made a big song and dance, didn’t he, about how he was going to devolve power?”

“He was going to give local people power over their own lives and let them make local decisions?”

“Well, how do you square that with what he’s doing to the people of Piddington?”

Mr Yusuf said the Piddington dispute reflected what he described as a much wider failure to control Britain's borders.

“Under this insane system in this country, men can turn up on our beaches, countries like Afghanistan and Syria, and get free taxpayer-funded accommodation in villages like this,” Mr Yusuf said.

“The only way we stop this is by securing our borders to stop any more coming,” he said.


“We have to detain every single illegal migrant in Britain and deport them back to the country from which they came.”

“Until that’s done, we’re not going to get our country back.”