Conservative and Reform politicians clashed during a visit to Piddington today, as residents railed against approved plans for an asylum camp just outside the village.
Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp and his Reform UK counterpart Zia Yusuf attended a news conference in the Oxfordshire village, which recently voted to secede from the UK over the controversial development.
However, the event quickly descended into a shouting match between the politicians, after Mr Yusuf attacked the Conservatives’ record on immigration and handling of asylum seekers.
In response, Mr Philp labelled the Reform grandee’s comments ‘disingenuous’ and called on him to ‘pipe down on the cheap politics’.
‘We would not be in this mess if you had used your majority to secure our borders,’ Mr Yusuf told the Tory MP.
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Mr Philp retorted: ‘Buddy, you’re in a hole. Stop digging.’
He added that Conservatives would block the development at MOD Bicester Site A, adding they would close the camp ‘straight away’ if it were built under labor, after Angela Rayner signed off on the project last night.
The former cabinet minister told Mr Yusuf to ‘read the room’ and that he had ‘missed the point’.
‘You’ve misjudged the situation. Do yourself a favour. Calm down,’ he added to Mr Yusuf.
The government has said the camp, which will have a capacity for more than 1,200 asylum seekers, is necessary to achieve its target of closing all migrant hotels, with the prime minister insisting such accommodation could not just be built in deprived areas.
The stand-off between the Conservatives and Reform comes after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch ruled out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party.
Both right-wing parties are trailing Andy Burnham’s labor in the polls by several percentage points.
Mrs Badenoch insisted Mr Philp had won both ‘the exchange and the applause’ in Piddington, which voted this year to leave the UK in a symbolic referendum.
Referring to Mr Yusuf, she said: ‘The fake one went along to score cheap points but made an arse of himself instead.’
Key concerns for Piddington residents include public safety as well as the lack of suitability of the site.
Campaign group Wrong Plan, Wrong Site accused the government of ‘moving problems down the road’.
It said in a statement: ‘At a time when Britain needs to be ready to defend itself, the Government wants to put an asylum center on land used to train an internationally recognized specialist military unit of nearly 1,000 personnel and right next to that unit’s headquarters.
‘Ministers say they will move the military training elsewhere, but this would weaken our defense readiness and cost the taxpayer even more. It doesn’t appear that the Government has properly assessed the defense implications.’
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: ‘The Secretary of State has granted full planning permission for the temporary, phased use of the former MOD Bicester storage site.
‘As the decision may be subject to legal challenge, it would not be appropriate to comment further.’
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