Is an English Backlash emerging? the IPPR asked in a report out this week. The answer provided by Professor John Curtice was heavily qualified, but it suggests that the English question is moving up the political agenda:
In England public attitudes towards devolution may be beginning to be linked a little more to people’s sense of national identity and their views about how well Scotland is funded. Support for the idea of an English Parliament may be beginning to find some roots in English national identity and perceptions of England’s material interests. If this trend continues too, then politicians may indeed no longer be able to assume that it is safe to ignore England in the devolution debate.
One politician who is engaging is Communities Secretary John Denham. In a speech to the Smith Foundation on Tuesday, he identified a number of key trends contributing to a growing sense of English identity:
There is, beyond doubt, some envy for those who are able to express both their British identity and their Welsh or Scottish identity. Those who feel English ask increasingly whether their dual identity has a similar legitimacy.
The second driver is the recognition that some members of ethnic minority communities also express confidence in their dual identity, British and an identity of their community, related to the country of origin of them or increasingly their parents and grandparents. Where they ask, does this leave those who want to say we are English?
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