UK students must take oath of allegiance

Panel says this will promote a sense of shared belonging

LONDON: All school leavers in Britain should swear allegiance to the Queen and the country, a former British attorney general proposed on Tuesday.

Citizenship ceremonies for students, similar to those held for new citizens, would help them mark the transition into adulthood, said the review conducted by a panel led by former attorney general Lord Goldsmith.He said a citizenship ceremony for schoolchildren would help “promote a sense of shared belonging”.

Goldsmith said the ceremonies should be a celebration, but also should emphasise that young people are “acquiring responsibilities to contribute to making a better society.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made pride in British citizenship a theme of his first year in office.

Goldsmith was asked by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last July to conduct a review of British citizenship. He said it would be up to the government, if it accepted his recommendations, to decide the details of the ceremony, such as whether it should include an oath of allegiance to the Queen.

However, critics ridiculed the idea, with Baroness Kennedy of the ruling Labour Party saying: “I think it’s rather silly.”

Jim Mather, the Scottish enterprise minister, said Scots would oppose such ceremonies. “People are hanging together, their loyalty is to each other here in Scotland. Sovereignty still lies with the Scottish people,” Mather told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.