When points mean passports

I’ve become a bit enured to being called a war-mongering baby-eater when I knock on a door to ask someone to vote for Labour. Usually, people listen politely and occasionally offer you a cup of tea, but you do get the odd snipe.

Imagine the scene when an aspirant British citizen knocks on a door to canvass for their party of choice. Not only will they be associating themselves with politics, they will be opening up their motives to criticism. “You’re only doing this to get a passport”.

Phil Woolas wants a points-based system for awarding passports, with points available, inter alia, for canvassing for political parties. That would only add to the scepticism over the motives of those involved in politics.

If we say that Britishness is behaving like people in Britain, the problem is that being a member of a political party, let alone door-knocking for one, is an increasingly un-British thing to do.

There is also, apparently, no limitation to which parties, present or future, are allowed. maybe taking part in our civic life does include campaigning for the Official Monster Raving Looney Party or the Church of the Militant Elvis, but I don’t think that’s what Woolas had in mind. I might set up the ‘immigrants campaigning to get rid of this stupid immigration points system, but only in a thoroughly British way’ party.

It’s not obvious what British values means, either. I would rather not have a hereditary monarchy. Were I an aspirant citizen, would that be sufficiently un-British? Would campaigning for Scottish independence be un-British? Are Sinn Fein kosher?

There will be also be points for going to live in areas of depopulation. Yes, you too can be British by living where the British don’t.

Of course, Woolas might be trying to make immigrants be model Brits, in which case I would advise him to look at the plank in his own eye before the speck in his brother’s. I know plenty of non-citizens resident in the UK who are model citizens, fully engaged with community and civic life. I just don’t want their motives to be quesioned.

Posted by Wordmobi