‘Quiet’ patriots of all faiths are helping to build us a better city

Outside my office in Stoke-on-Trent are two flag poles.

One flies the Union Flag – the symbol of our United Kingdom and the history of our nations who, over hundreds of years, came together.

The other has the flag of Staffordshire. A yellow and red design with the Stafford Knot front and centre. The motto of Staffordshire is ‘The Knot Unites’ and in Stoke-on-Trent, we have our own ‘United Strength is Stronger’.

Both flags speak of the power of unity over division. They tell a story of people coming together for the betterment of everyone and the benefits of unity. They are symbols of patriotism.

And yet, while we all instinctively know that unity is strength, we are living in an increasingly divided country where differences between us are used by a small number of people to fracture the strength that comes from our unity.

Last weekend, a small number of those voices of division were loud in central London. Considerably fewer than expected but nevertheless, thousands of people gathered in London for the latest ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march.

In recent years, these demonstrations have attempted to co-opt Christian imagery. Crosses were distributed among the crowd and chants of ‘Christ is King’ regularly broke out alongside anti-Muslim hate speech.

At the same time, a separate protest a few miles away, but still in London, with a focus on the Middle East conflict, decided that out-and-out antisemitism towards Jews was acceptable.

These angry groups, some of whom would tell you they are patriots, others would say they stand against oppression, were not offering a message of unity but of division bordering on hatred.

Their overlapping claims are that they are standing up for those who need them but their focus, for too many, really, was on demonising the religious minorities against whom they have taken a grievance. Whether they recognise that description or not.

It is scary and it is sad because the vision of the country these competing but similar groups create is a world away from the multifaith patriotic city I am privileged to represent.

In my constituency alone, I am proud to represent our Anglican Minster, the Civic Church of the City as well as dozens of Church of England parishes, two Gurdwaras, the Hindu temple, several Mosques, a network of Methodist, Catholic, Pentecostal and Baptist churches. And although just over the border, the Jewish Shul.

Each makes a huge – and often unseen – contribution to our city. They provide places of refuge for those in need, support local charities and promote community activities. They have difference in their faith but a shared sense of connection to our city. They are patriots, quietly helping build a better city. They anchor us.

But they are not alone. Across Stoke-on Trent, there are countless individuals and organisations doing what they can for their community. These are the patriots who we should applaud.

These proper patriots want the best for our city and the communities that they and we call home.

They organise to help elderly neighbours. They lead the litter picking teams to keep our streets clean, they volunteer with charities to give a helping hand to a neighbour in need, they give up their time to run scout and cadet groups to give young people the chances in life they deserve, they run community cafes to tackle loneliness, coordinate resident associations, look after community gardens, donate to good causes and they do it because they want to give something back to the place they call home. They are the first to volunteer and the last to complain.

For them, the overriding question is always ‘what can I do to help?’. These patriots give me hope and we need to hold on to hope because at a time when the voices of division are getting louder and where our symbols of patriotism are being used to as a weapon to exclude people, their little acts of patriotic kindness speak to who, I believe, we really are.