Legislate to recognise all native languages of Britain & Ireland as co-official

Closed 811 signatures

What the petition asks

Lack of official status of any language leads to English being the 'de facto' official language of the UK. This absence of legislation leads to discriminatory policy, denying other indigenous languages equal status in the UK, thereby discriminating against speakers of those languages.

This petition would like to see the following languages recognised as official in UK law: Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Scots (both of Scotland and Ulster), Welsh, Cornish, Angloromani, Shelta, British Sign Language, Irish Sign Language and English.

Co-official status in law brings UK laws with linguistic focus in line with the European Convention on Human rights:

Article 5 - Right to Liberty and Security, Clause 2
Article 14 - Prohibition of Discrimination
Protocol Number 12, Article 1 - General prohibition of discrimination, Clause 1.

Timeline

14 May 2019	Petition opened for signatures
6 Nov 2019	Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 811

Status Closed

Opened 14 May 2019

Closed 6 Nov 2019

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