Labour value England at £230

In a written answer to Andrew Rosindell MP, Margaret Hodge, the Minister in charge of England's culture, has admitted that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has spent the grand total of £230 promoting St George's Day over the past five years. A sum equivalent to one two-thousandth of a penny piece for each man, woman and child in England. Over FIVE years! The Daily Mail reports:

This April, Downing Street proudly raised the flag, and Mr Brown's spokesman said: 'The prime minister's view is that of course we should celebrate our Britishness, but celebrating our Britishness does not mean we cannot also celebrate our Englishness, Scottishness, Welshness or Northern Irishness.'

Justice Secretary Jack Straw urged the English to reclaim the day from 'bigots'.

'Anyone proud to be English is equally proud of St George and what, down the ages, his myth and his flag have come to represent for this nation within the United Kingdom,' he wrote in the Daily Mail.

But yesterday, Margaret Hodge, the culture minister, admitted how little had been spent actually promoting the day....

A Department of Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said the £230 was spent on putting flags up on St George's Day at the department's offices in 2007 and 2008.

Meanwhile up in Scotland, a country of just 5 million souls, the Scottish Government have pledged to spend £300,000 a year for the next three years promoting St Andrew's Day "to help promote our distinctive national identity and attract tourists".

Andrew Rosindell also asked the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether steps were taken to encourage schools to celebrate St George's Day in 2008. Minister of State, Jim Knight, replied:

The Department did not take any discrete steps to encourage schools to celebrate St. George's day in 2008.