Government proposes oath of allegiance to British values

Councillors, school governors and civil servants would be expected to commit to oath

Sajid Javid
(Image credit: Carl Court/Getty Images)

All officials holding public office should swear an oath of allegiance to "British values" to help fight extremism and encourage integration, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said yesterday.

The Communities Secretary said it was not possible for people to play a "positive role" in public life unless they accepted such basic values as democracy, equality and freedom of speech and that those in office should "lead by example".

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"We can't expect new arrivals to embrace British values if those of us who are already here don't do so ourselves," he said.

Javid said his aim was not to create a "government-approved one-size-fits-all identity" where everybody listens to the Last Night of the Proms, but warned that "without common building blocks of our society, you'll struggle to play a positive role in British life".

Javid's intervention follows a damning report by Dame Louise Casey, the community cohesion tsar, which warned that some Muslim communities are living in "extreme isolation" from the rest of society and do not share common values such as tolerance.

The report found that Britain had benefited hugely from immigration and the increase in ethnic and religious diversity, but there had not been sufficient emphasis on integration,

At present, only those who become British citizens swear an oath of allegiance, but the report recommended that every new migrant commit to a shared set of values.

Javid also proposed that schoolchildren should be taught "British values" to help bind communities together.

Under plans being drawn up by Education Secretary Justine Greening, Christian, Muslim and Jewish schools could be made to include sex and relationship education in their curriculums. "Sex education will be widened to include domestic abuse and the risks of sexting," says the Sunday Times.

Explore More