Member

However, this Labour Government are either blind or, unfortunately, weak on the issue of electoral sectarianism, which represents the single biggest threat to our democracy today. They have repeatedly chosen to soften our approach to coercive family voting and to allow candidates to continue campaigning in foreign languages with the explicit intention of appealing to particular ethnic, religious or cultural minority groups. Unfortunately, I expect that they will do so again today. Fortunately, because we live in a democracy, it is ultimately for the British people to decide what they think of that, for it is their decision that matters most—and what a wonderful thing that is. The democracy that we in this country enjoy was hard-built; it is deeply precious and far from common. Its maintenance relies on our constant vigilance, in this place and as citizens of the nation at large. It cannot be sustained unless we tell the truth—however difficult that may sometimes be—about anything that threatens it.