No bounce for 'Britishness' from last summer's 'Jubilympics'

Despite the union jack waving of last summer's Diamond Jubilee and London hosting the Olympic and Paralympic games, there has been no rise in British national identity in England, according to the think tank IPPR and Cardiff and Edinburgh Universities. This week marks the anniversary of the double bank holiday to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

In a report to be published this summer, IPPR confirms a long-term trend of the strengthening and politicisation of English national identity. The new data is taken from the Future of England Survey, run jointly by the think tank IPPR and Cardiff and Edinburgh Universities.

Using the same question to test national identity, going back to 1997, the report finds Englishness continues to be the primary source of identity for people in England despite the two major moments of Britishness, unparalleled in recent British history: the Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee. The so-called 'Moreno question' asks respondents to locate themselves on a spectrum extending from an exclusively English to an exclusively British identity, with intervening levels of overlap.

Analysis by IPPR and Cardiff and Edinburgh Universities shows that a clear majority of people living in England retain a dual sense of identity: they think of themselves as both English and British. However, they do not think of themselves as equally English and British. Twice as many say they are 'more English than British' (20 per cent) than those who say they are 'more British than English' (10 per cent). More than twice as many people prioritise their English over their British identity: 35 per cent said they were either 'English not British' or 'More English than British', compared to just 17 per cent who claimed either to be more 'British than English' or 'British not English'.

Although the data does show a small decline in those who identify as 'English not British' last year, IPPR says there was no boost to those who identify as 'British not English' and no reverse in the long-term trend of rising English idenity. Despite deep public attachment to the monarchy and continuing pride in the UK's armed forces there was no bounce for Britishness last year. This analysis has no impact on the forthcoming independence referendum in Scotland as people living in England are not eligible to vote.

Guy Lodge, IPPR Associate Director, said:

"The Olympics and Jubilee appear to have done little to halt the strengthening of English identity over British identity. We might reasonably expect that with all the popular and cultural manifestations of Britishness these two events entailed - where British national symbols were paraded in all their glory - we would see a strengthening of Britishness identity within England. But it didn't happen. For the English their sense of English identity matters more to them than their British identity."

Charlie Jeffery, Professor of Politics at Edinburgh University said:

"The English have shown themselves to be cheerfully immune to the highly choreographed celebration of Britain we saw last year in the Jubillee and the Olympics. While the Westminster establishment saw that choreography as a way to spike Scottish nationalism ahead of the independence referendum there next year, they have been blind to the deepening of an English national identity on their own doorstep."

Notes to Editors

IPPR will publish a major report based on the full findings of FoES 2012 later this summer. For more on IPPR's project considering questions of Englishness see:http://ippr.org/research-project/44/7115/english-questions

The 2011 Census found that 70 per cent of the English population identified themselves as either solely English or English in combination with some other national identity. Just 29 per cent of respondents identified themselves as feeling any sense of British national identity.

The Future of England Survey (FoES) 2012 is a joint initiative between IPPR and the Wales Governance Centre (Cardiff University) and the Academy of Government (Edinburgh University). The FoES is the most comprehensive examination of how public attitudes within England are changing in respect of issues around national identity, nationhood and governance. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 3600 English adults/3401 White adults/651 BME adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 23rd - 28th November 2012. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all adults (aged 18+).

Table: Trends in 'Moreno' National Identity, England 1997-2012 (%)

Sources: 1997: British Election Study; 1999-2009 British Social Attitudes; 2011-2012 FoES

Contact

Richard Darlington, 07525 481 602,r.darlington@ippr.org

Tim Finch, 07595 920899, t.finch@ippr.org