British Values Oath Proposed By Sajid Javid

6) Not making eye contact on public transport.

Every public office-holder may have to swear an oath of allegiance to British values, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has signalled.

The loyalty pledge would be expected to cover elected officials, civil servants, and council workers.

Javid’s proposal comes in response to a report on social cohesion by Dame Louise Casey, which warned some sections of society did not accept British values such as tolerance.

He said he was “drawn” to Dame Louise’s recommendation to bring in an oath of allegiance because it was impossible for people to play a “positive role” in public life unless they accepted basic values like democracy and equality.

But what would these British values be?

As you’d expect, the internet had a few suggestions.

1) The Weather

So will this oath include moaning about the weather, whatever the weather because the weather is never right? #BritishValues

— Jonathan Blench (@JonathanBlench) December 18, 2016

2/3) Tasty Beverages And Failed Attempts At Transport

#BritishValues
1) drinking too much chocolate milk
2) getting stranded in Manchester

— XMAS FFF (@UKIPBIackpool) December 18, 2016

4) Some Good Old Consumer Snobbery

The freedom to be able to judge someone based on what supermarket they shop in #BritishValues

— Rohan (@Chops8592) December 18, 2016

5) Taking Responsibility For Your Actions. Or Not.

#Britishvalues Blaming everyone else for your problems.

— Karl (@Karl101001) December 18, 2016

6) Tube Etiquette

Not speaking to anyone or making eye contact while on public transport. #BritishValues (London edition)

— John Lunny (@johnlunny) December 18, 2016

7) Remembering Where You Came From

#BritishValues freedom to wear tracksuits and be poorly educated with an air of snobbish superiority because there once was an empire

— soren knudsen (@OldKnudsen) December 18, 2016

8) Looking After The International Community

#BritishValues sell them the arms on Monday send the Army in to fight them on Friday pic.twitter.com/1kGjpyx0si

— Gareth Evans (@gareth0108) December 18, 2016

9) TEA! DON’T FORGET TEA!!!

I do live by #BritishValues by drinking cups of tea and listening to Beatles song 😀

— V19essa (@V19essa) December 18, 2016

10) Sampling Other Cultures

Going on holiday and only eating fish and chips #BritishValues

— Mr Man-Like (@travisjayent) December 18, 2016

11) ‘I Swear To Swear’

If someone asked me to swear an oath to demonstrate my loyalty to Britain I'd tell them to fuck off. That's one of my #BritishValues

— Steph Robesdottir (@Stephattoir) December 18, 2016

Writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Javid said: “If we are going to challenge such attitudes, civic and political leaders have to lead by example.

“We can’t expect new arrivals to embrace British values if those of us who are already here don’t do so ourselves, and such an oath would go a long way to making that happen.”

Mr 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 “without common building blocks of our society, you’ll struggle to play a positive role in British life”.

The oath could include phrases such as “tolerating the views of others even if you disagree with them”, as well as “believing in freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from abuse ... a belief in equality, democracy, and the democratic process” and “respect for the law, even if you think the law is an ass”.

Mr Javid also wants all migrants to swear an oath of allegiance, not just those seeking UK citizenship, The Sunday Times said.

Dame Louise’s report warned the country was becoming more divided as it became more diverse and highlighted that in some communities women were the subject of “abuse and unequal treatment of women enacted in the name of cultural or religious values”.

In her report she acknowledged that elements would be “hard to read”, particularly for Muslim communities which already felt under pressure, but she said the country had to face up to “uncomfortable” problems.

The review recommended that schoolchildren should be taught “British values” of tolerance, democracy and respect to help bind communities together amid growing “ethnic segregation”.

The review was originally commissioned by then prime minister David Cameron in 2015 as part of a wider strategy to tackle the “poison” of Islamic extremism.

It found that while Britain had benefited hugely from immigration and the increased ethnic and religious diversity it had brought, there had not been sufficient emphasis on integration.

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