In summary the conclusions of this Future of England (FoE) Survey are:

 

-there is compelling evidence that the English electorate is dissatisfied, increasingly so, with current arrangements for the government of the UK and of England in particular.

 

-as yet no particular political manifestation holds hegemonic status, neither EVEL or an EP

 

-however, the English electorate desires an English dimension to the country’s institutions of government

 

-the English electorate wants political representatives from England, be they elected to Westminster or a putative EP, to make decisions about England, and not from the UK as a whole

 

-it wants to see England more clearly demarcated as a unit of government

 

-a stirring is now definitely in place. After centuries of being subsumed within a a wider state England is re-emerging as a political community.

 

-This is related to to the development of the growing awareness of a distinct national identity which is not reducible to Britain and Britishness.

 

-It has a momentum of its own, it is happening in the absence of any formal political mobilisation of Englishness.

 

-It presents a series of serious challenges both socially and politically.

 

-it is shared geographically across the territory of England. However, ethnic communities remain significantly more British than English, but there is tentative evidence that this too is changing

 

-There are -as yet- intractable practical difficulties ahead of any genuine attempt to introduce a institutionalised English dimension to the country’s politics. EVEL could prove to be a recipe for constitutional chaos. re an English Parliament, is it unrealistic to expect such a body to remain in some sense subservient to a reformed and very much weakened UK state?

 

-Nevertheless,it is unlikely that the status quo will remain tenable for much longer. Scottish independence if it happens will ensure that. Likewise devo-max will heighten the unacceptability of the West Lothian issue. If Scotland goes for the status quo, the surveys of opinion done by this Report suggests that English sentiment against it will make change hard to resist.

 

-Whatever happens in Scotland must not distract attention from meaningful conversation about the future shape of English governance.

 

-The British political class is standing in the way of such a conversation. It has failed to engage. Hence the English public has indicated to the Survey that it has little or no faith that an English dimension will be forthcoming; and -most significant indeed- only one in ten expect that an English layer of government will have a significant influence on this issue (And here I must turn your attention to page 22 of the CEP booklet on English Votes on English Matters where what I have called The Iron Law of Devolution becomes urgent and incredibly relevant. If we want the English people to support an English Parliament, it will have to be the case that between them, unlike the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, the English Parliament and the reformed UK government must not between them have one single more MP or civil servant than exists at present)

 

-English interests are not sufficiently well represented in the current political system. There is no significant political party promoting England as a focus and locus of political life.

 

-Labour is in denial of the English Question (yet in the Surveys gets more support, slightly, than any of the others as the party that might address English issues). There is cause to doubt the seriousness of Conservative commitment to EVEL and it is deeply unionist and maintains a fundamental opposition to any further devolution of power to Scotland and Wales, which trumps its championing of English ‘rights’. The Liberal Democrats remain wedded to ‘an English regionalist approach to UK federalism’.

 

-Tectonic changes to the government of the UK are required if the English Question is to be taken seriously but it is hard to believe that the UK political class/parties will rise to such a challenge.

 

-Ignoring the developments highlighted in the Survey will not make them disappear. Despite the persistent efforts of successive governments to focus on Britishness, ‘at the popular level it is Englishness that resonates most’. ‘The main problem is not that the English Question is finally being asked by the country’s electorate, but rather the failure of the British political class to take it, and them, seriously’

End

 

I would suggest that the Report is one that we must warmly welcome, both for the support -not intended on its part, it is impartial per se  it gives to what we have argued for ages; but also, and equally, for the warnings it gives us. An English parliament is definitely on the horizon, but between now and any possible establishment of it, there are huge mountains and deep valleys to traverse. Still! Nonetheless -and this is of extreme importance to our cause, there is recognition both by the class of people the IPPR and its Welsh and Scottish colleagues on this Survey represent, who have influence where it matters, influence we ourselves do not have, recognition of undeniable evidence of an unstoppable increase in English identity, of England as a distinct political unit, and of unfair treatment to the English qua English. Those three things are the crucial ingredients of political success, of change, and they all three exist now in plenty.

 

Mike Knowles