The Labour party in Tilburg has launched a campaign to have unnecessary English words removed from the city’s high street.

Shops are increasingly communicating with customers in English, rather than ‘ordinary Dutch’, the party says.

‘There is nothing wrong with Dutch or a dialect,’ the party says on its website. ‘Sale is uitverkoop, special offer is speciale aanbieding. There is no need to use English.’

The party is planning to give an appropriate prize to the shopkeeper who comes up with the best shop window text in Dutch or the local Tilburg accent.

Vivien Waszink of the language institute Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal told RTL Nieuws that the use of English is a bugbear for many people. ‘I understand that shops want to stand out… and you hear English more and more in advertising, where it is supposed to be hip, but there is a real chance it could be counterproductive.’

Nevertheless using English words does not mean that Dutch words risk dying out, she said. ‘Sale is pretty normal, but office language – such as the use of meeting – is more annoying.’