Comment: The case for a Magna Carta bank holiday
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. We should have a day off to remind ourselves of that.
By Eleanor Laing MP
On June 15th 1215, the foundations of our democracy were laid when King John met his Barons at Runnymede and sealed that historic document which has become known as Magna Carta.
The effect of a bill I recently brought before the House would be to celebrate appropriately the 800th anniversary of this momentous occasion.
The concept of celebrating Magna Carta has widespread support. What better way for people to celebrate freedom than by having a day’s holiday?
I appreciate, of course, how difficult it is for businesses, service providers and schools to deal with the consequences of a day's holiday and I'm not suggesting that June 15th should be an extra day's holiday. But given the current discussions about moving the May bank holiday, the perfect replacement would be then – Magna Carta Day.
There is something unique and very special about celebrating Magna Carta.
Its significance goes far beyond these shores. Upon it, are based not only our own constitutional freedoms but those of the United States of America, most of the Commonwealth and much of the European Union.
Even in Scotland, where Magna Carta never had any force, its value as a constitutional document is still appreciated.
The committee set up by the Magna Carta Trust, ably chaired by the inimitable Sir Robert Worcester, is putting forward this proposal – Magna Carta Day – to the American Congress, to the Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Trinidad, Indian, South African, all Commonwealth Parliaments and to the legislatures of all countries who hold our values. They should observe the 800th anniversary and declare their Magna Carta Day to share with ours.
The German ambassador, asked recently about the salience of Magna Carta responded: "Magna Carta is known to everyone in Germany as the foundation of democracy – it is in the schools syllabus."
Perhaps it should be in our schools syllabus too.
Winston Churchill said that Magna Carta was "the foundation of principles and systems of government of which neither King John or his nobles dreamed".
Magna Carta established the very idea of the rule of law. It was the first formal document to insist that no-one is above the law, however high his or her status.
It also established that executive power must proceed by recognised legal process, never unlawfully, when action is taken against an individual.
In the 800 years since the principle of the rule of law was thus set down, every aspect of our country's development has been influenced by it.
This is not just dry legal doctrine. It is our dependence upon the belief in this fundamental freedom that has shaped our nation's character, fostering belief and pride in our basic liberty and giving us the confidence to question authority.
What began as an agreement to give people freedom from royal interference has developed over eight centuries into a range of fundamental liberties. Now it isn't the monarch who tries to interfere in the lives of our people, it is the state.
And as we, parliament, battle daily to keep the people we represent as free as possible from state interference, the principles of Magna Carta are every bit as important as they were 800 years ago.
British people know that they have an inalienable right to freedom and to challenge the authority of government.
We have fought for that right through the ages, not only for ourselves but for others right across the world.
And looking at the events of the so called "Arab Spring" over the last few months we can see how much still has to be done in trying to win those precious rights for those who still do not have them.
As President Obama said when he addressed our parliament in May of this year: "Centuries ago, when kings, emperors and warlords reigned over much of the world, it was the English who first spelled out the rights and liberties of man in the Magna Carta. Through the struggles of slaves and immigrants, women and ethnic minorities, former colonies and persecuted religions, we have learned better than most that the longing for freedom and human dignity is not English or American or Western – it is universal, and it beats in every heart."
Magna Carta is a rare piece of legislation, perhaps unique, that has not just endured, but evolved over the centuries.
Although many of its provisions have been repealed – and rightly so – by later legislation, its principles nonetheless echo throughout the ages and across the globe today.
Today we need to rein in the power of an overbearing nanny state just as much as our forebears of the thirteenth century had to restrain the power of the king.
I am not asking that we declare a bank holiday to mark the signing of a dusty old piece of thirteenth century paper, or the actions of an unpopular monarch eight hundred years ago.
We need a special holiday so that the British people can celebrate our freedoms – on 15th June 2015 – Magna Carta Day.
Our constitution, our civil liberties, our individual rights, the rule of law, the bedrock of our democracy: they are too often taken for granted. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. So let us cherish and appreciate our freedom. Let us celebrate it.
Eleanor Laing has been Conservative MP for Epping Forest since 1997.
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