Barnham residents back symbolic UK exit referendum

Residents of Barnham, a village in Suffolk, voted to hold a symbolic referendum on leaving the United Kingdom, protesting a Home Office proposal to use a nearby former RAF base for asylum accommodation. The referendum has not been scheduled, and the vote would not legally remove Barnham from the UK. At a village-hall meeting on Saturday, seven of about 80 attendees opposed holding a referendum. A working group was due to meet Monday, October 26, to set a timetable. No date for the proposed vote has been announced. The Home Office had initially proposed accommodating 1,250 people at RAF Barnham. Reports of a revised application put the proposed capacity at either 913 or 930 asylum seekers. The department’s current application was not detailed in the reports, so the revised figure remains unclear. No final decision has been made on using the site. Barnham’s population is about 600. The accommodation proposal is part of the government’s broader plan to move asylum seekers from hotels into alternative sites, including former military bases. The Home Office says such facilities are intended to be self-contained, with security and CCTV, and says it is seeking a fairer distribution...