Letter: Rally around the monarchy to preserve national identity
If we elect to stay in Europe or opt out, we face seismic change either way. If we stay, our sense of nationhood will be eroded in many ways.
It will not only be our laws that will change but also our governance and therefore independence and right to self-determination.
Even now Europe wants to pull back on our economic success to bring us into step with other EU countries. We will have to find ways to preserve our national identity and independence.
If we leave then we have a separate identity to forge. This concerns me because our political system seems less and less capable of managing serious everyday issues and in recent years we have had the curse of political correctness that has made us a slave of party politics. You can go to prison for voicing views on immigration in the wrong way and maybe even in the right way.
I think the answer lies to look back in time and see key elements of our heritage.
This has always been a country of largely warring regions but always one united by the monarchy.
I feel that the monarchy has been sidelined because it represents common values that some believe irrelevant to modern day life. I strongly believe that if we are to survive inside or outside Europe we have to unite under a common flag and set of values and it will not be held by Mr Miliband or Mr Cameron.
It has to be values that are represented by the monarchy and the monarchy will have to adapt and adopt new values that we can work towards.
They will learn that politics is for politicians and we have seen some slips in this, but common values such as freedom of speech and the right to education and a safe existence for the elderly are values that the politician does not have exclusive rights to, and ones that the monarchy can champion.
In coming years it is inevitable that there will be conflict for us either inside or outside Europe and there will have to be a flag to rally to and right now I can only see the monarchy holding that flag.
In Shropshire we have taken a battering under the hammer of London economics and a sense of identity as "Proud Salopians" is needed to assert ourselves.
Robin Lloyd, Ellesmere
