On Sunday in Brighton & Hove residents and visitors will mingle together in their chosen activities, benefiting from the sea air and the opportunity to exchange views. Some will be on Madeira Drive East of the Palace Pier roundabout, taking part in the Jaguar car rally or visiting the aquarium. Another group of residents and visitors will be to the West of the Roundabout on Kings Road and their activities will be moderated by the presence of groups of Police Officers and significant quantities of metal barriers. Apart from those who will simply want to observe the event for themselves with no strong views either way, there will be two distinct groups of people. The smallest group will be those who claim they want to celebrate our English identity, wanting to give St Georges day a prominence that matches St Patricks Day, St Davids Day and St Andrews Day. The largest group will be those who believe this desire to celebrate English identity is simply a front for the extreme right wing views that many involved with March for England clearly hold.

Our democratically determined laws allow any legitmate group of people to March in support of their ideas, providing they are law abiding. This gives freedom to groups such as the one I joined over a decade ago when I hoped, along with the 2M people who were also present that the Government would take our presence as a reason for not invading Iraq. The same laws allow groups to celebrate their faith like events I organised in 1996 and 1998 in Brighton and Hove which took place under the banner of March for Jesus. I recall the first event was rather noisier than we have anticipated, when we gatherered in Queens Park. We managed to attract complaints from many miles away. Queens Park is the most wonderful natural amphitheatre and whilst it is rarely available for public events, we were given special dispensation as Pride was already taking place in Preston Park on the same day.

I am very proud of my English heritage as I wrote a couple of days ago. However I do not believe that the cause of English culture is well served by a group almost exclusively drawn from one political niche marching with behaviour and links that associate them with extreme views. However that does not create a basis for stopping people like Dave Smeaton from carrying out his democratic rights, any more than the Labour Government could stop us from Marching to try to stop the War in Iraq. In a city like ours, with now a third successive minority administration running the Council, it is clear that making decisions and finding common ground is far from simple. Although all three parties and one Independent Councillor seem agreed that March for England is not welcome in the city, they have so far failed to make any practical suggestions that might remove from Dave Smeaton the desire to come to Brighton (Dave is not a resident) and with his colleagues to act as they do. Indeed the decision to meet with Dave has only happened this year and with great reluctance by the leaders of the three parties. Our MPs have all been unwilling to meet with March for England at all, despite some of their constituents taking part each year. It is inevitable that finding a way of removing this event from the annual calendar of the city or changing it into something more acceptable will depend on discussion not on continued silence.

Most residents and businesses, like our political leaders would prefer the March not to happen anywhere in the city, and some would go further and argue for it to be banned. These people in particular need to answer the question of what else they would choose to ban should it be visited upon us and on what legal basis any ban should follow. There are others who feel that the current route is the wrong one. This chimes with the Conservative group on the Council. Their challenge is to suggest an alternative route that would be more acceptable to the rest of the city. In the case of both points of view, assuming that no ban is possible, we need to take a more active and facilitative approach, as much as that is not to our tastes. Because no political leaders are willing to engage constructively with March for England, and indeed others who would welcome the opportunity to mark St Georges day in an appropriate manner,  the decisions about times of day and route are handled almost exclusively through Sussex Police, bringing along any partners they can. It is vital that a more positive approach is taken by the City Council and indeed the Police and Crime Commissioner, if we are to find ways of dramatically reducing the cost of these events which uses money that could be much better spent.

The very existence of March for England is is one of those challenging issues that does not have easy answers. Let us hope that Sunday passes of with no violence (recent years have seen several injuries and lots of violent language) and no arrests, as naïve a wish that is. Whatever the outcome of Sunday, March for England have already indicated that they want to return next year when as it happens we will be in the middle of a General and Council Election campaign! Every year that goes by with this unsatisfactory state of affairs, groups such as the Scouts and Guides who historically marked this day in the calendar get further excluded and indeed most of the residents and visitors are also prevented from enjoying some part of the city. As I have written before, in other places St Georges Day presents a great opportunity for the community to work together and truly celebrate our history.