DEMOCRACY AUDIT

I know that the type face is quite small (get the whole thing here), but I thought that these were interesting figures relating to how people saw themselves in a situation where they were forced to chose between being Scottish (or English or Welsh) and being British.

Table 1.1c: Trends in ‘forced choice’ national identity, 1974–2005: percentage responses

	1974	1979	1992	1997	1999	2001	2003	2005
Lives in England
English identity	n/a	n/a	31	34	44	43	38	40
British identity	n/a	n/a	63	59	44	44	48	48
Lives in Scotland
Scottish identity	65	56	72	72	77	77	72	79
British identity	31	38	25	20	17	16	20	14
Lives in Wales
Welsh identity	n/a	57	n/a	63	57	57	60	n/a
British identity	n/a	33	n/a	26	31	31	27	n/a

Source: Cruse (2008, p. 14).

One means of measuring the impact of attempts at reconciling or moderating societal divisions could be the extent to which people regard themselves as belonging to their particular national group, or a larger whole. Table 1.1c contains data on this subject applying to Great Britain (that is, excluding Northern Ireland). In England, the percentage of people describing themselves as English rose from 31 per cent in 1992, to 40 per cent in 2005; while those describing themselves as British fell from 63 to 48 per cent over the same period. In Scotland, there has been a far stronger rise in national identity over a longer period. The percentage of people describing themselves as Scottish has grown from 65 per cent in 1974 to 79 per cent in 2005; while the percentage citing a British identity has fallen from 31 per cent in 1974 to 14 per cent in 2005. In Wales, national identity has been more stable, being chosen by 57 per cent in 1979 and 60 per cent in 2003; while those regarding themselves as British fell from 33 per cent and 27 per cent over the same period.