This is the passage in Michael Wills talk to the ippr yesterday that Guy blogged in OK - with the Minister's summary of the top line poll results on their opinion survey. He said the full survey material will be published shortly.
In January, the Ministry of Justice commissioned Ipsos-MORI to carry out a survey to explore what sources of identity gave people a sense of belonging. 2,000 people were asked in face to face interviews how strongly, if at all, they felt a sense of belonging to Britain, to England/Scotland or Wales, to their local area or neighbourhood, their own age group, their religion or faith and their ethnic group.
* 45% said they strongly felt a sense of belonging to their religion or faith
* 69% said they strongly felt a sense of belonging to their ethnic group
* 70% said they strongly felt a sense of belonging to their own age group
* 78% said they strongly felt a sense of belonging to their local area or neighbourhood
* 80% felt a strong sense of belonging to Britain
* 82% in England felt a strong sense of belonging to England
* 91%% in Scotland felt a strong sense of belonging to Scotland
* 95% in Wales felt a strong sense of belonging to Wales
Of course, there are variations from these national figures within sub-groups. For example, 81% in England felt a strong sense of belonging to Britain, compared with 87% in Wales and with 70% in Scotland and it's worth noting that, that for all the focus on the role on the Union in Scotland, 71% in London felt a strong sense of belonging to Britain, virtually the same percentage as in Scotland.
What emerges strongly from these findings is the strength of British identity as a source of belonging. And this is true across age, gender, region and ethnicity. 75% of black and minority ethnic respondents, for example, said they felt a strong sense of belonging to Britain.
And this feeling is resilient. Despite all the comment about the growth of national sentiment in England, Scotland and Wales and the detachment of minority groups, 54% said their sense of belonging to Britain had stayed the same over the last five years, 16% said it had become stronger and only 28% said it had become weaker. And again, there aren't significant variations across age, gender, region and ethnicity. 54% of whites, compared with 48% of black and minority ethnic respondents, for example, said their sense of belonging to Britain had stayed the same over the last five years.
