It’s ‘The English Question’ week on the BBC, with all articles underpinned by a huge survey of 20,000 people living across England. Some of the key findings included:
- 8 in 10 feel Englishness strongly.
- 2 in 3 in coastal and former industrial towns feel English pride, but fewer than 50% in major cities.
- Half of people think England’s best days were in the past, with just 1 in 6 believing our best days lie ahead.
- Just 13 per cent thought that Westminster politicians ‘reflect the concerns of people in my part of the country’.
There is therefore clearly an important void that Labour needs to fill, with a politics that empowers the English through radical democratic changes and offers new reasons for optimism.
Read about the English Question survey, here.
Read Mark Easton’s ‘Can England be optimistic again?’, here.