The Question – Englishness

English, is not commonly used to describe national identity by people but is that because of our history? The empire was built by mainly English people, starting with Wales in 1536, this was when Henry VIII was king it took a number of years for the union to be so intertwined. The Welsh government wouldn’t reform until 1999

The story of what I think made the idea of Englishness disappear was the idea of Englishness a bad idea disappear the image of the empire. England was once seen as the oppressor ruling 23% of the planet, by far the biggest and longest-running empire in the world. A broad definition could say it ran from 1497 until the hand over of Hong Kong in 1997.

We could be the most undemocratic country in the union, there is no directly elected parliament to resolve England only issues. Instead, this is left to the speaker to decide what is a devolved issue which only English MPs can vote on.

Surely the next big question is the constitution of England, does it need its own parliament like the Welsh and Scottish to debate reserved matters. This could create a clearer democracy in England, and we are a nation without home rule.

English identity and British identity, can I believe become confused. The United Kingdom is a union between four nations with their own identity, take wales welsh beef, the mountains, rural life, Scottland bagpipes, whisky, haggis. England finding a national dish is hard as regions have their own dishes.

There is no BBC One England as such, BBC Radio England, no ETV or a newspaper. There may be national football, rugby, cricket teams but that is about as far as we go.

English food, cider, Cornish pasty, our national dish could be Fish & Chips. Being English can have bad stereotypes, anti-immigration, beer-drinking, white people have always been branded as out of control. We are either reserved and shy or out and loud, our nature isn’t being out there.

Englishness is about our country, being proud of who we are as a nation isn’t part of our nature. We do celebrate our sporting success, but we are starting to see England dominate in women’s sport, whether that be football, netball or cricket.

England was the conquer of the world. Maybe that’s why we are frightened of expressing what our national indent is. Also maybe with groups like the EDL and parties like BNP, are racist and Englishness has become interwind with them.

It’s our job as members of this country to reclaim being English from these hate groups. These are not groups which represent the views of the majority, the same with the 53.38 per cent, in England, voted for Brexit. There are many different reasons why, but was it the idea of an ‘invasion’ from Eastern Europe behind the fears?

I’m not a 100% English like many I have a mix of Welsh, Scottish and South African heritage. But my parents were born in England and I have lived in England for all my life, however, travel all over the country I see the dynamic and diverse country we are.

Cider in the west country, pasties in Cornwall and cream tea in Devon. But we don’t see this has our heritage and maybe we are so focused on our capital and the regions around London that our global image is shaped by the capital.

I have lived in the west all my life, travelling down to places like Cornwall you see that there is a clear county identity. This I believe is because they are a proud seafaring, former copper and coal-producing region have lost the industry and become a tourist destination.

There I feel are almost two Englands, the big cities and city-regions which are diverse communities which welcome all, and the rural, coastal county’s and towns which are older white, retired communities.

Immigration plays its roll, a recent documentary The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files, exposed something of our mentality. The government introduced a right to settle programme for people who were born under British rule to settle in the UK.

However, what has happened as our country has changed that these mainly black people from the Caribbean have been caught up in the hostile environment policy. I believe personally that we don’t have a problem with race, although since the Brexit referendum intolerance has risen.

A Guardian report in May said that 71% per cent of people from ethnic minorities now report having faced racial discrimination, compared with 58% in January 2016, before the EU Referendum based on a poll by Opinium of BAME communities earlier this year.

Online racism has more than doubled since before the referendum, to 51%, and there were rises of about 50% in the number of people reporting hearing people ranting or making negative comments about immigration or making racist comments made to sound like jokes.

I feel this is more an English issue, as we are still in some ways the master of these islands. Mainly it’s the English who cause problems, clashes in Marseille during Euro 2016, the drunkness often paints a negative picture.

Stereotypes include, “We’re miserable and we complain a lot”, “We only talk about the weather”, “We love and all drink tea” and “We all speak like the Queen.” But, we are more than that, we are cultured most of the worlds drama, music and documentaries come from English creators.

How do we reclaim our identity of being seen as racist, that’s a big challenge. Do we need to make clearer how we diverge from the Welsh and Scotts? We are a country, but I believe our system of devolution to the other nations have left us in England behind.

Although, we are beginning to get some regionalisation of devolution I believe, although not my party position, I believe the powers should be separate from the central government. My party’s current position is to create a Minster for England and to increase directly elected mayors.

We are beginning slowly head in that direction, but Brexit I believe is an opportunity, should the people continue to support the result of the referendum, though I think it’s unlikely to have another referendum with the current Johnstone Administration.

I think should a no-confidence motion succeed Parailment should ask for another years extension, to allow time for a change of administration and policy, as well as the chance to discuss how this union of four countries is governed.

Will the shame some may have about our history ever go away? When we resolve this political crisis is it time to look at the future of the United Kingdom?