United Kingdom

British society is diverse and is marked by a complex mix of identities that exert considerable influence on its politics. The national identities of its constitutive nations – England, Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland - are amongst the most salient of these identities and have produced political nationalisms that increasingly threaten the integrity of the UK. These national divisions appear to have been deepened by the Brexit referendum, with Scottish and English nationalists in particular holding strongly opposing views on EU membership. Immigration from across the Commonwealth and from Europe have over time added new layers of diversity and identity to the UK’s nations, as immigrants brought with them new languages, religions and ethnicities. Previous tolerance of such diversity has been eroded as multiculturalism and other liberal values have increasingly been contested by politicians and voters holding authoritarian and socially conservative values. Since the Brexit referendum, this liberal-authoritarian cleavage has divided voters and parties on key issues such as national sovereignty and immigration. Connected to the value divide is another important cleavage, that between voters living in the UK’s prosperous cities and regions (who tend to hold more socially liberal views) and voters in less prosperous regions and rural areas (who tend to hold more socially conservative and authoritarian views). This economic-geographical division has grown out of the concentration of governance and economic productivity in London and its hinterlands, which has produced some of the highest levels of regional inequality in the developed world.    

There are two concerning developments to watch in the years to come. The first is the erosion of civil liberties protections. This is evident in recently passed legislation restricting the right to peaceful protest (the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act) and weakening of the rights of asylum seekers, immigrants, dual nationals and those born abroad (the Nationality and Borders Act). In line with this legislation are the proposed reforms to the country’s core human rights law, the Human Rights Act, which if passed, would make the enforcement of civil liberties more difficult. Concerning too are the government’s legislative and rhetorical attacks on the independence of the Electoral Commission, the UK’s independent electoral management body. If these continue, it may affect the UK’s performance in the Clean Elections sub-attribute of the GSoDI.