Welcome to UKIP Oxfordshire
UKIP POLICY ON RESTORING BRITISHNESS
Sunday, 14th February 2010
The policy below on restoring Britishness was published by UKIP on Friday.
The general principles of UKIP's Restoring Britishness policy are as follows:
1 Britishness Defined
UKIP believes in civic nationalism, which is inclusive and open to anyone of any ethnic or religious background who wishes to identify with Britain. We reject the "blood and soil" ethnic nationalism of extremist parties. UKIP believes Britishness can be defined in terms of belief in democracy, fair play and freedom, as well as traits such as politeness.
2 Threats to Britishness - The British Cultural Left
The British cultural/Marxist left has spent decades undermining British values and institutions. It has cast even the most sober and understated expressions of pride in nationhood as 'racist' and casts Britain as a historical villain guilty of slavery, colonialism and various other real and imagined wrongs. The current British establishment ironically is anti-British in important respects. This world view often relies on large grants to its 'equality' and 'diversity' quangos and strategic positions in the media, education and the legal system. The cultural left has also supported multiculturalism and supranationalism, both of which undermine a unified sense of being 'British'. UKIP opposes multiculturalism and political correctness and promotes uniculturalism, a single British culture embracing all races, religions and colours.
3 Threats to Britishness - Pseudo-Nationalism
Welsh, Scottish and Irish nationalists constantly speak of their desire to be 'independent' of England. However, they all support EU membership, and have yet to explain why it is not OK to be an integral part of the UK, but is OK to be a mere micro-province in a larger federal European superstate. UKIP sees this as bogus independence. In England, an increasingly resentful English nationalism is also brewing, often fuelled by perceptions that other parts of the UK are receiving preferential treatment and services and/or that Celtic nation MPs are forming voting blocs at Westminster. The 'English Question' is arguably the most serious threat to Britishness.
4 Threats to Britishness - Islamicisation
Regarding the Islamicisation of Britain, UKIP would ban the covering of the face in public buildings and certain private buildings by means of a burqa or niqab (with veils). UKIP would require a public referendum for planning permission on major buildings, including large new places of worship. UKIP would deport radical preachers calling for violence or the overthrow of democracy, and reintroduce the Treason Act to prosecute those found guilty of attacks on the British people or armed forces. Religious schools materials should not teach hatred of the West, and must be congruent with British values. Sharia courts must not override UK law.
5 Solutions -Economic, Legal and Political Measures
UKIP would replace members of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies with national Westminster MPs. However, the buildings which house them would be used by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Westminster MPs to meet monthly to discuss issues purely related to their home nation. In England, English Westminster MPs would meet monthly to discuss English only issues in an English Parliament. UKIP would replace the terms "Scottish Government" with its correct term "Scottish Executive". An English Executive would be created from British departments that are de facto only engaged in English affairs, headed by an English First Minister. UK national government would be restored at the highest level within this overall framework.
UKIP would abolish the Barnett formula, which has disproportionately provided some parts of the UK with preferential services to others. UKIP would insist that this discrimination based on which part of the UK a person is from is abolished. Support would be based on a commonality of funding across the UK embracing urban, suburban and rural areas of Britain.
UKIP would create a "British Register" of important UK companies, products and brands and amend the takeover code to safeguard these through parliamentary approvals and/or conditions where necessary.
UKIP would safeguard British weights and measures (the pint, the mile etc), which have been undermined by the EU. UKIP would also provide proper support to Royal Mail and the Post Office. UKIP would support the traditional British pub with legislation as laid out in our "Save the Pub" campaign (see policy).
UKIP would support the Monarchy by replacing the media frenzy around state support by transferring sufficient amounts of Crown Estate assets back to the Crown to provide suitable income.
6 Media, Cultural and Sporting Measures
In England, UKIP would replace the May Day bank holiday, and make St George's Day a public holiday in its place. UKIP will introduce a new Bank holiday for Commonwealth Day, and a new Commonwealth Centre at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
UKIP will support more British footballers and sportsmen through sports colleges and crack down on violent and/or unsportsmanlike conduct in sport.
UKIP would prevent public money being used to support quangos, artistic or media projects which gratuitously insult or undermine Britain, its people or British values.
UKIP would allow pubs and clubs to introduce properly ventilated ‘smoking rooms’ or to choose to be designated as ‘all smoking’ or ‘all not smoking’ according to its clientele.
UKIP will consult on a proposal to cut the BBC back to a core public service output, with a focus on quality and seeks to raise standards for TV and film production.
UKIP will encourage British designers to create a reinvigorated "British style"
7 Educational, Art and Music Measures
UK schools would be required to teach about Britain's contribution to the world, such as British inventions, promoting democracy and the rule or law and the role of Britain in fighting slavery and Nazism. All cultures, languages and traditions from around the British Isles such as gaelic, would be celebrated.
UKIP will encourage educational National Collections to celebrate British and Commonwealth achievements, heritage and legacy in a range of activities: aviation, maritime, transport, manufacturing etc, with tax breaks and grants. UKIP will establish ‘Best of British’ exhibitions to illustrate factually the contribution inhabitants of the British Isles have made to the world.
UKIP would celebrate the "Last Night of the Proms" as an example of good humoured British pride, which the politically correct left deride. UKIP would formally strike out the unhelpful verse starting with "rebellious Scots to crush" from the national anthem. UKIP would require the UK theme medley to be restored to BBC Radio 4.
