• Poll: 50% fear divided society if we don't define what Britishness means.
• Charter: Education, constitution, equality and immigration reforms proposed.
• Fabian Review: The Britishness issue published to preview Future of Britishness conference with Gordon Brown on Saturday January 14th 2006.

The 'Britishness' debate must result in a practical integration agenda to strengthen the 'ties that bind' our society together, argue leading politicians and thinkers as an Opinion Leader Research poll shows that 50% fear that we run the real risk of a divided society if we don't define what Britishness means. The Fabian Review Britishness Issue, published on Tuesday 20th December 2005, previews the Fabian Society's Future of Britishness conference headlined by Gordon Brown on Saturday 14th January 2006.

The Britishness poll: who do we think we are?

Deborah Mattinson reports on an Opinion Leader Research poll and focus group research which suggests that 'Britons feel we are at a turning point: that building our positive identity matters more than it has done in the past, and that it will matter more still in the future'. 86% are proud to be British, but divided opinions about whether modern Britain is personified by the Justice Britain of Bob Geldof, the Smart Britain of Shakespeare and Science or the Yob Britain of Vicky Pollard and friends.

• 75% Britain is about Justice. We pride ourselves on our tolerance, fairness and fair play.
• 71% Britain has a reputation for being Clever and innovative. Our creativity in the arts and sciences is world renowned.
• 49% We now live in Yob Britain. It expects failure and sneers at success. It lacks ambition and can not be bothered.
• 50% believe that we run the real risk of a divided society if we don't promote what Britishness means, 27% disagree.
• 41% say being British has become more important to them after the July 7th bombings, 33% disagree.
• 43% think race relations are better in the UK than in our European neighbours, while 22% disagree.
• 29% say they often feel ashamed to be British, while 55% disagree.

Opinion Leader Research conducted a demographically representative telephone poll of 1006 members of the public 25th-27th Nov 2005. Qualitiative research was conducted the previous week with an extended focus group of members of the public and 8 in-depth interviews with opinion leaders).

Charter for a New Britain: 'Progressive Integration' Agenda

1. Write down the Constitution with the largest ever public deliberative debates leading to a British Constitutional Convention and a home-grown Bill of Rights.
2. Renew National Symbols – with a new multi-faith Coronation Ceremony where the next Monarch pledges to serve the people and democratic institutions, and an end to Royal gender discrimination. The Honours System should lose its imperial with a new Order of British Citizens.
3. A new National Community Service Scheme of a year for those aged 16-21, leading to a £3000 credit towards education, a mortgage or business start-up.
4. A Religious Equality Act scrapping the blasphemy law, replacing the Established Church's primary role with new arrangements to treat major faiths equally in public life within a human rights framework.
5. Ending child poverty by 2020 as pledged by the government: child poverty is 61% among children of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin.
6. Teach Britain's Global History in schools and European languages in every primary school by 2010.
7. Tackle 'ethnic penalty' in employment and underperformance of white working-class boys in schools as part of cohesive equality agenda.
8. Make immigration statistics independent with a new Migration Commission producing an Annual Migration Report to Parliament.
9. Investigate the impact of education on integration, and introduce measures to avoid segregated mono-ethnic schools in multi-ethnic towns.
10. Invest in British Muslims supporting those who seek to create a confident British Muslim identity.
11. Use the run-up to 2012 to plan new Festivals of Britishness at local level.

Sunder Katwala, Fabian General Secretary, argues that 'a society of separate silos is neither desirable nor sustainable' and sets out a practical reform agenda to show that 'integration is a two-way street requiring allegiance and commitment from all citizens to shape and observe the rules of a shared society as well as action on the social and economic agenda to ensure that the promise of integration is kept' with an 11-point Charter.

Quotes from the Fabian Review: Britishness Issue

"Our research suggests that Britons feel we are at a turning point: that building our positive identity matters more than it has done in the past, and that it will matter more still in the future … There is an appetite for change: a new national sense of purpose. Yet focus group members are emphatic that while political leadership will be vital, this new mood can not be imposed from on high"

—Deborah Mattinson, Joint Chief Executive of Opinion Leader Research

"For most of my political life, 'British identity' has been a no-go area for liberal and left discussion … We need an inclusive British identity that can meet our needs in the 21st century. Most attempts to do so start from the assumption that there is a real 'core Britishness' that we need to discover, articulate and require everyone – particularly newer communities – to share. There are real difficulties with this for progressives. Historical Britishness can not deny the strong strands of racism, exploitation and class division that have been interwowen with the more amenable parts of our history. Some people try to get round this by detaching 'core values' from any historical context. But this merely begs the question of why such core values can in any sense be British."

"The other problem with 'discovered Britishness' is that is seems to place all the obligation to change on the newer communities and none on the majority. While incomers will always have the greatest adjustment to make, those of us who grew up in a Britain that was overwhelmingly white and confident in its imperial history need to know that Britain has gone for ever. The question can not be 'who we are' but 'who we want to be'. A 21st century British identity will have to be created not discovered. In part it will grow from the natural interaction of the people who share our country but we need more than this"

—John Denham MP, Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee

"Multiculturalists and the left in general have been too hesitant about embracing our national identity and allying it with progressive politics. The reaffirming of a plural, changing inclusive British identity which can be as emotionally and politically meaningful to British Muslims as the appeal of jihadi sentiments is critical to isolating and defeating extremism. We can not both ask new Britons to integrate and go around saying that being British is, thank goodness, a hollowed-out meaningless project whose time has come to an end. But this is not a minority problem. If too many white people do not feel the power of Britishness, it will only be a legal concept and other identities will prevail"

—Tariq Modood, Bristol University and leading British Muslim academic