Examination of Witnesses (Questions 520-522)
1 MARCH 2005
MS HAZEL
BLEARS MP, MR
BOB WHALLEY,
MR TONY
LORD AND
MS JUDITH
LEMPRIERE
Q520 Chairman: Would you
like to go back over the last hour and a half and tell us what
you really think?
Ms Blears: You have had entirely
my views this afternoon. In terms of opportunities for everyone
and mutual expectations, it is very much the agenda that we talk
about across government, whether it is opportunity, security,
rights and responsibilities, that sense of mutual inter-dependence.
That is not necessarily just about Britishness; that is about
the core values that are the glue that holds us together. It is
the question Mr Taylor raised about loyalties. My view remains
the same. We are all very complex human beings. We have layers
of different loyalties and views and opinions. I do not know that
there is a need for a great debate about Britishness. I think
there is a need for a great debate about what those mutual inter-dependencies
are, and the relationship between rights and responsibilities
and opportunities in this country. I think there is a need to
re-establish some norms of behaviour, what I would call the essential
standards of decency, but I do not think there is necessarily
a need for a great debate about Britishness.
Q521 Chairman: In the
same document you promote the concept of citizenship ceremonies
for young people, heightening the sense of being a citizen. Does
that not need a more clearly defined vision of what being a British
citizen, or British subject, is in the 21st century, which is
clearly very different to what it would have been 50 or 100 years
ago?
Ms Blears: We have had a huge
amount of constitutional debate over the last few days, have we
not? I am more of an expert in the separation of powers than I
ever anticipated being. With the citizenship agenda, what we are
trying to do is to explore some of those issues, because I do
not think they are necessarily that clear, about us coming to
a fixed determination, a complete set of certain things that are
about our citizenship. I think it is a journey and an exploration
of how some of that works. That is why we have said we are going
to pilot our idea of having a Citizenship Day in October this
year. Some people have greeted that proposal with some scepticism.
Will everybody want to be an active citizen on 15 October or whenever
it is? But I do think that there is merit in exploring one of
the things that unites us as a country, whether that is sport,
art, drama, the things that we undertake together, the boundaries
that we have. I am not personally sure that that is set in stone
and is subject to a determination from outside. I think it is
something that we all have to find for ourselves.
Q522 David Winnick: Minister,
looking back long before our time, centuries before our time,
all the immigration which has occurred from the 16th and 17th
centuries, all the different peoples that have come to our shores,
has there been any group that have not succeeded in becoming part
of the general society, that their children and grandchildren
and so on are as British as anyone who can trace their roots back
to 1066 and before? The point I am making is, is there any reason
why the more recent immigrants, post 1945 and post 1955, will
be any different to those in past centuries?
Ms Blears: No, I do not think
there is. People can hopefully come to this country, make a contribution,
settle here, feel as fully involved and part of our civic life,
which I think is important, as anybody else. I think it is a challenge
for us at the moment to get that message really understood by
our communities. We have a responsibility to reassure people that
those coming to this country are not a threat, not people who
are going to take things away from them, but are people who can
help to add to the richness and strength of the society in which
we live. I think we live in a fantastic country, and I think people
coming here can help us make it even better.
Chairman: On that note, Minister, thank
you very much indeed. We will see you next week with four other
ministers. Thank you very much indeed.
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