Sunder Katwala looks ahead to one of the big questions of 2014
Englishness has now overtaken being British as the primary official identity in England. In the 2011 census, 69% of people said they were English, and only 29% chose British. That dramatic statistic exaggerates the shift. Few ticked two boxes on their census form, but most still say both identities matter.
What has changed is the realisation that they are not the same thing. Scotland’s historic independence referendum on September 18th 2014 will accelerate this. Few in England outside the political class have yet noticed this is happening. By next summer, it will be clear that we can’t have the next round of debate about Scotland’s aspirations, inside or outside the Union, without finally taking the English question out of the ‘too difficult to think about’ box.
That doesn’t mean rushing to declare an answer to the ‘West Lothian’ question. Issues like English votes for English laws, an English parliament, or a federal Union, should be considered, but it would miss the point to debate constitutional fixes without genuine public engagement in what giving a greater voice to England should mean.
That popular conversation will be as much about culture and identity – about what makes us English, from language and literature, humour and sport, and voicing the range of ideas of England, rural and urban, north and south.
Englishness remains almost invisible in our public life, beyond the cricket, football and rugby teams, which now express a modern, civic and inclusive English identity. Many cultural institutions, like the National Theatre, see their mission as British, though Scotland and Wales have their own too. Symbolic measures like making as much of St George’s Day as St Patrick’s Day, and sorting out the muddle over national anthems, with a tune for England than for Team GB, would help to signal that the debate is finally on.
So who will speak for England? It may be time to find out.
