All public officials may have to swear an oath to British values, signals Communities Secretary Sajid Javid
The loyalty pledge would be expected to cover elected officials, civil servants, and council workers
MIGRANTS will be forced to swear an oath to British values under plans from the Government’s first Muslim Minister, Sajid Javid.
The Communities Secretary said he was keen to push ahead with the recommendations of a thumping report from Integration Tsar Louise Casey.
The ‘loyalty’ oath would cover values such as democracy, tolerance and equality.
And it would also be expected to cover public sector officials, civil servants the NHS and even the BBC.
Mr Javid insisted he wasn’t talking about forcing migrants to drink tea and watch cricket. But he said it was a way of breaking down walls and improving integration.
He said there were individuals in his home town of Rochdale, Greater Manchester who have lived in Britain for half a century but barely speak a word of English.
In her report two weeks ago, Ms Casey said it was impossible for people to play a “positive role” in public life in Britain unless they accepted basic values.
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”.
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.
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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.