Radical progressives insisting anyone can be English are fuelling the very division they claim to fight

GB News Join the fight for free speech and fearless journalism. Thank you for signing up! Don't Miss As the national conversation on who is English rages on, I can't help but feel that so-called progressives are doing much more harm than good if their central objective is to foster a more cohesive and harmonious England. First things first, there must be a shattering of radical-progressive myths that England is a land of immigrants like the US. It is true the arrival of Germanic tribes such as the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians, and their fusion with partly 'Romanised' Celtic Britons, led to the formation of the Anglo-Saxons. Following unification into a single kingdom under Athelstan in 927 AD, there was the Norman Conquest in the 11th Century and the arrival of the Huguenots (beginning in the 16th century and peaking after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685). However, the melding of such new arrivals into the existing population was seamless to the point that this can be described as a process of ethnogenesis – leading to the formation of a unified and cohesive English ethnic identity. The suggestion that the ethnic majority of England is some kind of mongrel patchwork grouping is both historically illiterate and wholly unscientific. It is clear as day there are radical-progressive efforts to dilute Englishness to the point that ethnic identity is completely overlooked. I suspect this is seen as an effective way to suppress ethno-nationalist sentiments within the indigenous population and to prevent the growth of group-based clannishness among the English. But it will achieve the opposite – the very denial of an English ethnicity and erasure of its associated cultural heritage, traditions and customs risks having a radicalising effect. PA It must be the most irresponsible form of social cohesion policy to promote and celebrate ancestries, heritages, and traditions imported from lands afar, whilst denying the very existence of a coherent titular population in England and depicting the country as a land of immigrants. There is also the reality of progressives – for decades – demanding anti-discrimination protections and cultural-maintenance rights for ethnic minorities living in England. The acknowledgement of the existence of ethnic-minority groups in England must entail the recognition of an ethnically English majority – minorities cannot exist unless there is a majority group. This may well be stating the bleeding obvious, but it seems to be a point that is lost on many. And having lived in a hyper-diverse town all my life in the shape of Luton, I have come across cases of ethnic-minority individuals referring to 'the English' – at times to criticise behaviours and attitudes which are perceived as overly liberal and individualistic. Therefore, treating everyone as English is extremely unhelpful in terms of understanding social relations in modern-day England – a country which includes cities and towns which are extremely diverse in terms of ethnic lineage. Radical progressives who insist anyone can be English are antagonising members of the native majority who take pride in their ethnic identity, and ethnic-minority people who refuse to turn their backs on their own ancestral origins. To deprive 'Englishness' of any ethnic and ancestral element is not remotely inclusive – it will only pave the path towards a more fragmented, unstable, and divided England. Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter