A SENIOR political commentator is calling for England to break away from the rest of the UK.
Peter Hitchens, writing in the Daily Mail, calls for the “Restoration of England” as a way of pre-empting Scottish and Welsh demands for independence.
The columnist also hails the British Empire and dismissed criticism of “little Englanders” – and says any party that put English secession in its manifesto would “win a smashing majority”.
“From a chosen day, England would once again be a sovereign nation in its own right,” he explains, adding: “It would be surprisingly easy, since so much of our government and law is already English, borrowed by others from us.”
Hitchens continues: “The Parliament at Westminster is English already, since the days of Simon de Montfort, and has simply given hospitality to others during the long adventure of the Union. By becoming wholly English again, it could recover much of its force and its purpose.”
Harking back to the supposed glories of the British Empire, the commentator claims it was a “thrilling and inspiring” time during which England gained “experience and knowledge as well as treasure”.
He adds: “No doubt many wicked things were done by our empire, but compare it with the Soviet, Belgian, Spanish, and Portuguese empires of the past, or with the hideous Chinese empire of the future. And you might then concede that, if there must be empires (and it looks very much as if this is so), ours was better by far than any that has ever existed.”
Hitchens, who was born in Malta, reveals that as well as Empire, he is “secretly” thrilled by the words English and England.
He writes: “People say there is something racist about Englishness. Well, I am all sorts of mongrel myself and I was not even born here, but in the middle of the Mediterranean. And I do not think myself one ounce less English as a result.
“Restored to Englishness, we could — and in my view would — recover much of the good sense we have lost in a century of trying to please everybody but ourselves.”
The columnist concludes: “People say there is something racist about Englishness. Well, I am all sorts of mongrel myself and I was not even born here, but in the middle of the Mediterranean. And I do not think myself one ounce less English as a result. “Restored to Englishness, we could — and in my view would — recover much of the good sense we have lost in a century of trying to please everybody but ourselves.”
Hitchens was subsequently challenged on social media about currency an independent England would use.
He said it would continue to use the pound, replying: “I suspect that without all those subsidies it will be stronger and our credit better than now.
“If Scotland and Wales *want* hard borders, they are coming anyway. If not, no need.”
He added: "I want to conserve a 956-year-old nation, and have no interest in persuading others, who wish to leave it, to stay, or in waiting around for them to leave."
Asked whether that would mean losing a seat on the UN Security Council and dropping out of the G7, he replied: "Who actually cares?"
Last year, Hitchens said he would back independence "against all logic" if he were Scottish.
