English identity is "fraying" due to mass immigration and public institutions "dismissing our history", Conservative election frontrunner Robert Jenrick has warned.
The Tory leadership hopeful claimed that "unprecedented migration" and "non-integrating multiculturalism" are contributing to a "dismantling of our national culture".
Writing in the Mail, Jenrick said an influx of migrants to Britain has taken its toll on England's "culture, customs and cohesion", putting the "very idea of England at risk".
Expanding on his views first expressed in the column, Jenrick told GB News that we "should be rightly proud of our distinct national identity" but cautioned that in England in particular, in recent decades, "our identity has started to fray".
Robert Jenrick warned that England's national identity has 'started to fray'
GB News
Jenrick explained: "I'm a proud Brit, I'm a proud unionist, I want a strong Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But I'm also proud to be English, and I think we should be rightly proud of our distinct national identity.
"And influential people like politicians, the media, the civil service in England should say so as well."
Highlighting the lack of education on English history in schools, Jenrick noted that unlike the "distinct celebrations" of the Scottish and Welsh nations, English schools are "denigrating and dismissing our history and our identity".
He added: "Children are not being taught to celebrate English history in our schools. If we were Scottish or Welsh, our politicians would rightly celebrate our distinctive history - our landscapes, our food, our customs, and that is absolutely the right way forward."
The Tory leadership hopeful claimed English schools are 'not teaching children' about our identity
GB News
Turning his concerns to that of mass immigration, Jenrick told GB News that Britain has "lived through an era of unprecedented migration", which has put "more pressure on our own culture and identity".
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Jenrick said: "This has been particularly prevalent in the last two decades when we've lived through an era of unprecedented levels of mass migration. A hundred times more people have come into our country, and in particular to England and English cities in the last 25 years than in the 25 years before that.
"That has put huge pressure on our culture and our identity and our ability to successfully integrate. We've got to change that, and I think it begins with us talking about it freely."
When pressed by host Emily Carver on the fury expressed by Britons about the surging levels of mass migration, Jenrick was quizzed on how the Conservatives can "get this right" after such a historic loss at this summer's General Election.
Jenrick vowed to 'leave the ECHR' in a bid to tackle surging illegal migration
GB News
Jenrick claimed: "I share their anger and frustration. I fought relentlessly in Government to reduce the numbers coming into our country and persuaded the then Prime Minister to do a big package of reforms which would reduce legal migration by 300,000 every year. And I argued that we needed to have a strengthened Rwanda policy.
"The public should know that I share their frustration - I want the Conservative Party to be different, to accept that it didn't get everything right when it was in Government and now in opposition, to have crystal clear positions on these issues."
He vowed: "I want Parliament to set a cap on legal migration in the tens of thousands or lower. And I want us to strengthen, not scrap, the Rwanda policy by leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
"If I'm lucky enough to lead the Conservative Party in the future, that is the way that I will proceed."
