BRITAIN: Britain's Conservative Party has said modern definitions of Britishness must "incorporate all ethnicities" in a common commitment to "uphold the values of a liberal democratic society on the basis of equality".
Resuming party leader David Cameron's assault on multiculturalism, a party policy group yesterday called for "a new national deal" to build "a cohesive society in which the whole population identifies with each other, shares the same values and is prepared to defend them".
At the same time, it warned that "a significant number" of Muslim organisations in Britain were "keener to promote ideology than the totality of the communities they claim to represent".
It told the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) there were "too many reactionary voices" still powerful within that organisation.
As a survey this week showed that 40 per cent of young Muslims would prefer to live under Sharia law in Britain, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, chairwoman of Mr Cameron's national and international policy group, said there were those advocating Muslim withdrawal "from participation in our democracy".
Insisting that the MCB must decide if it wished to advance integration, she said: "Muslims in this country, many of whom feel conflicted at the moment by the pressures on them, should be able to emerge fully and successfully as equal citizens in their own right who do not need mediators between themselves and the government."