The referendum, which would carry no weight under British law, is being organized as a protest by villagers in Piddington. Residents there have overwhelmingly opposed the British government's plan to house male asylum seekers at the site about a mile away, on a Ministry of Defense property. Piddington Parish Council chairman Tim McNally, one of the leading voices behind the protest campaign and referendum plans, compared the village's struggle, and himself, to George Washington battling for independence from Britain. I am going to make the change and then give away the power like he did," McNally told The Sun newspaper. "It would become a magnet for right-wing agitators and it will have a really polarizing effect on the population," she said.