On May 8 1945, bells rang out across the country to mark the end of our long and brutal experience of war on the European mainland. As Berlin surrendered to the triumphant Allied forces, people across Britain celebrated a new dawn and churches across the land marked the occasion with a victory peal.

On January 31, our nation leaves the European Union. On Saturday morning, February 1, the sun will come up on an independent United Kingdom for the first time in almost five decades.

That morning will not only mark the beginning of a new chapter in our national story, but also the triumph of British democracy against a political elite who spent nearly four years trying to delay, sabotage, and deny the clearly expressed will of the British people.

We suffered through every dirty trick imaginable in their long and protracted campaign to demoralise the country and force our surrender. We never gave up, and we won in the end.

Whichever way you look at it, February 1 will be the most momentous morning in British history since the glorious day in 1945 when our country celebrated victory over the Nazi regime in Germany.

That’s why we’re today calling on churches across the country to do what they did then and mark the first morning of our independence with the sound of bells ringing. 

We're under no illusions. Card-carrying liberal Justin Welby, cossetted in gilded Lambeth Palace won't like this initiative one bit, the Church's hierarchy will do everything to snuff it out. Which is why we appeal directly to patriotic and principled churchgoers to put pressure on their local parish to join in on this epic gesture of national unity.