Peter Facey (London, Unlock Democracy): Identity and politics can be an explosive mix. Defining what we are and what we are not seems to be as essential to humans as breathing. In Britain today, the debate about identity cannot be separated from politics. The future of the United Kingdom will be shaped not just by institutions and policies, but also by how its inhabitants feel about their identify.Let me put my cards on the table. I feel English, British and European and am proud of the county my family comes from and of the county I now live in. I get annoyed when the post office tells me I live in Hertfordshire when in fact I live in Cambridgeshire. For many reasons a sense of place and identity matter to me.
What being British is has changed for me over my lifetime. When I was a child and teenager I thought of myself as British. If you had asked me about being English I would have said that it was simply another word meaning effectively the same thing. But over the last 25 years of my life those identities have become more distinct. In some ways I now feel more English and at the same time am clearer about my British identify. For me Britishness is about the joint contribution and interplay between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Those who try to sell Britishness as a single level national identity do it down in my view. It is the fact that it is multi-layered and multi-national that makes it so wonderful. The United Kingdom is the most successful multi-national state in the world and at its best shows the world that people of different national identities can live on the whole happily and successfully together.
I for one am a Unionist: I believe that we are better off together than we would be apart. I think there is a danger that we could undermine and potentially destroy that union, either through neglect or by attempting to push single identity. The irony may be that the best way to protect and restore Britishness is to develop England's identity.
A few days ago, at the launch of the Future Britain project, a number of people came up to me and asked what I thought about the West Lothian question, as it had not been mentioned, and the conversation moved on to Englishness. There was a sense that they wanted permission to be proud to be English. These were not English separatists, simply people who felt that for some reason it was okay to be Welsh or Scottish and British, but not be English and British.
If that feeling grows the consequences may be dire. So what can we do about it? One simple act that does not need legislation is to stop singing the national anthem when England plays sporting matches and start singing an English one instead (preferably Jerusalem). I can't think of anything that sums up the confusion in the minds of the English than singing the UK anthem against teams made up of our fellow citizens.
