The Union Survey

Petition calling for Cornwall to gain nation status closes on symbolic milestone A petition calling on the UK Government to recognise Cornwall as a nation — alongside England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — has gained more than 19,000 signatures. The campaign, which follow...

A petition calling on the UK Government to recognise Cornwall as a nation — alongside England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — has gained more than 19,000 signatures

'Politicised Englishness most potent force in contemporary UK politics' - think tank Emily Price Analysis of English political attitudes suggests that Keir Starmer’s efforts to resolve the linked protests around flag-flying and “asylum hotels” is unlikely to settle longstanding discon...

Analysis of English political attitudes suggests that Keir Starmer’s efforts to resolve the linked protests around flag-flying and ‘asylum hotels’ is unlikely to settle longstanding discontent among large numbers of the English electorate ✍️Emily Price

'Politicised Englishness most potent force in contemporary UK politics' - think tank Emily Price Analysis of English political attitudes suggests that Keir Starmer’s efforts to resolve the linked protests around flag-flying and “asylum hotels” is unlikely to settle longstanding discon...

Great article by ‪@emilypricejourno.bsky.social‬ in @nation.cymru quoting our work and research leads @ailsahenderson.bsky.social and @richardwynjones.bsky.social.

There's lots more detail on the underpinning research on our website.

nation.cymru/news/for-mar...

'Politicised Englishness most potent force in contemporary UK politics' - think tank Emily Price Analysis of English political attitudes suggests that Keir Starmer’s efforts to resolve the linked protests around flag-flying and “asylum hotels” is unlikely to settle longstanding discon...

Great article in @nation.cymru quoting our research and offering analysis from @ailsahenderson.bsky.social and @richardwynjones.bsky.social on how a current protests in England derive from a "longstanding discontent among large numbers of the English electorate".
nation.cymru/news/for-mar...

Professor Richard Wyn Jones of Cardiff University said: "As flags continue to proliferate on roadsides and bridges and as Farage’s Reform – a party that in England enjoys overwhelming support among those who emphasize their English identity – continues to lead in the polls, it is clear that politicized Englishness is the most potent force in contemporary UK politics. In this, our latest investigation of English politics, we show how ‘anger’ and ‘fear’ have come to characterize the political attitudes of the English. Those who wish to understand the on-going radicalization of middle England should start here."

Professor Ailsa Henderson of the University of Edinburgh said: “For more than a decade our Future of England Survey data have tracked English frustration with political life in the UK. There is no shortage of grievance, about the EU, about resources going to Scotland, about immigration and about a lack of English political voice in the UK. The latest political developments suggest two things. First, there remains a fundamental problem with efficacy in England. Folks don’t think their voices matter, they think that England is poorly served by its political system and keep identifying foreigners – Europeans, Scots, immigrants - as the source of the problem. Second, since none of the previous efforts to address this have solved the grievance problem - not Brexit, not English Votes for English Laws, not metro mayors – there is little reason to believe radical immigration changes will either. But address the efficacy issue and the grievance might well resolve itself.”

Nigel Farage and the political power of English grievance The Conservatives and Labour have allowed resentment to fester in the biggest part of the UK – and the only region not to have its own parliament.

Erthygl newydd ar anfodlonrwydd cymdeithasol a radicaleiddio yn Lloegr gan @ailsahenderson.bsky.social a @richardwynjones.bsky.social

New piece in the @theconversation.com from the research team at @theunionsurvey.bsky.social about contemporary social and political discontent in #England 👇

Excellent article .

The Union Survey: tracking English political attitudes for 15 years (long hard work excavating these issues from sedimented assumptions about ‘British’ politics). Here’s hoping folk pay attention now English grievance is ubiquitous on the surface of the political news. @theunionsurvey.bsky.social

Nigel Farage and the political power of English grievance The Conservatives and Labour have allowed resentment to fester in the biggest part of the UK – and the only region not to have its own parliament.

Fantastic new article by @ailsahenderson.bsky.social & @richardwynjones.bsky.social on the @uk.theconversation.com.

"...UK governments find it easier to address Farage’s successive foreigner problems than to look at their own role in stoking English grievance."

theconversation.com/nigel-farage...

Good item on #c4news on the English & Union Jack flags. Agree with @jydenham.bsky.social that the two flags cannot be ceded to the far right. Much of the UK have problems with these flags & legacy of Empire as Kehinde Andrews says but that doesn't meaning giving these flags up to the right.

Is England flag flying campaign patriotism or provocation? We’re joined by Professor John Denham, a former Labour minister who is now Director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics at the University of Southampton, and Kehinde Andrews, a Professor o...

Make your own mind up
www.channel4.com/news/is-engl...

The Union Survey | Public Attitudes on the State of the State The project and this website will provide a home for data, analysis and a network of researchers and others with an interest in the relationships between the UK's component parts. Drawing on rigorous ...

Our most recent report found that those voters in England who identify primarily as English rather than British are made both angry and fearful by contemporary political life.
Report by @ailsahenderson.bsky.social and @richardwynjones.bsky.social on the anger of the English: www.theunionsurvey.com

If there’s so much buyer’s remorse about Brexit, why is Nigel Farage the rising figure in UK politics? Ten years on, an angry tribe sees itself as more English than British - and Ireland must stay alert to the dangers

@ailsahenderson.bsky.social & @richardwynjones.bsky.social "among those English-identifiers, we found ambivalence towards the Union as a project and a commonly held sense of grievance about the perceived cost and political influence of the other nations within the UK" @theunionsurvey.bsky.social

Prof Ailsa Henderson in front of a Scottish Election Study banner.

Great to join @ailsahenderson.bsky.social and other @scotvoting.bsky.social colleagues at Scottish Politics conference.

Chart showing EVEL to be the most popular option for English governance across the country.

"The second point to note is that with the sole exception of 2020, English devolution as championed by the current government is always the least popular option for English governance across the electorate as a whole."

The Shameful Conquest of England, p. 23
www.theunionsurvey.com/reports

Reform move into 13% lead over Labour with Find Out Now. Tories just holding 3rd place & facing the prospect of falling to FOURTH PLACE.

Reform projected majority with not a single Scottish Reform MP.

REF 33% (+4)
LAB 20% (-1)
CON 16% (-3)
LD 15% (+2)
GR 11% (-)
Sample: 7/5
Change: +/-30/4

Parallel Politics: 2025 Elections in England, Canada, and Australia UofG Spotlight · Episode

I spoke with Kez Dugdale and Nicola McEwen about the English local elections last week, the fallout, and what to expect from the upcoming Hamilton by-election.

Plus great interviews with Andre Lecours and Ariadne Vromen about the Canadian and Australian elections.

Seen the headlines in today's Scottish papers? Join
@scotvoting.bsky.social team TONIGHT 6pm @uofglasgow.bsky.social for an analysis of the the state Scottish electoral politics One Year Out from the 2026 Holyrood elections. Boyd Orr Bldg in-person and on-line
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/one-year-o...

Scots will be looking at the Labour figures from that Welsh poll and thinking, "first time"?

But for context, Labour have won every Westminster and Welsh election for *103* years. When they lost to the SNP in 2011, that streak in Scotland was 'just' 47 years long.

New ITV Wales @yougov.co.uk @walesgovernance.bsky.social has been published.

#Senedd voting Intentions:

Plaid 30%
Reform 25%
Labour 18%
Cons 13%
Libdems 7%
Greens 5%
Others 2%

Westminster

Plaid 24%

Reform 24%

Lab 20%

Cons 13%

Libdems 9%

Green - 7%

Other - 2%

www.itv.com/news/wales/2...

network & contact | The Union Survey We are very happy to answer any question about the contents of this site from other researchers, members of the media of other interested parties. We are also keen to develop a network of interest for...

politician, think tanker, you might work in business, government or the third sector. But if you would like to remain connected to our research and hear more about opportunities to share insights, then please sign up at: www.theunionsurvey.com/network

We're building a network of people with a professional interest in the politics of the Union. Your interest might be one territory or all of them, electoral behaviour, economics, public policy, the constitution, identity, or something else. You might be a journalist, official, academic,...

network & contact | The Union Survey We are very happy to answer any question about the contents of this site from other researchers, members of the media of other interested parties. We are also keen to develop a network of interest for...

politician, think tanker, you might work in business, government or the third sector. But if you would like to remain connected to our research and hear more about opportunities to share insights, then please sign up at: www.theunionsurvey.com/network

MSPs to sign off on Scotland's new electoral map Boundaries Scotland has carried out its first review of the country's electoral geography since 2010.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Blue Labour's Jonathan Rutherford Is Helping No 10 Find Purpose, Energy And A Story To Tell Can Blue Labour help Keir Starmer’s government develop a clear direction and sense of purpose? Sienna Rodgers talks to Jonathan Rutherford, a polit...

These vacous people, who by any measure have got exactly the government they were asking for in 2013, but who are so detached from both policy thought and the people they ventriloquise that they simply have not noticed and never will:

A chart which reads: In hindsight, was the UK right or wrong to vote to Leave (2024)? Reform R:77% W:16% DK:7% Conservative R:58% W:37% DK:5% Lib Dem R:10% W:86% DK:4% Labour R:13% W:83% DK:4% Green R10% W:86% DK:4% Source: FoES 2024. Party support as measured by vote intention at the time of the survey.

83% of English Labour voters think the UK was wrong to leave the EU. 37% of English Tories agree with them.

Clip from table.

Supporters of most other parties lean in favour of thinking that Reform speaks for the interests of England over those of the UK as a whole. But its own supporters think that the reverse is true.

This is our piece on Reform’s hurdles, even with a good night tonight.

Chart setting out attitudes of English voters think on constitutional questions. [The devolved legislature] should be given control over. majority of taxes raised in devolved territory (NI) 50 (S) 51 (W) 48 Levels of public spending in [devolved territory] should be reduced to the levels in the rest of the UK (NI) 38 (S) 41 (W) 39 MPs from [devolved territory] should be prevented from voting on laws that apply only to England (NI) 56 (S) 61 (W) 56 No MP from [devolved territory] should ever be a member of the UK government (NI) 18 (S) 17 (W) 17

51% of English voters think that the Scottish Parliament should control the majority of taxes raised in Scotland (50% for NI Assembly, 48% for Senedd Cymru). Majorities would exclude Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish MPs from voting on England-only legislation.