A major new opinion poll has revealed a significant hardening of attitudes towards national identity, with a growing proportion of the public believing that being British is something you are born into, rather than something you can become.
A Growing Belief in Birthright Britishness
The survey, conducted by YouGov for the left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank this month, found that one in three people (33%) now believe 'Britishness' is something a person must be born with. This marks a sharp increase from less than one in five (19%) who held this view just two years ago.
Furthermore, more than half of the 2,370 adults surveyed (53%) stated that being born in Britain is an important component of being British. A quarter of respondents, however, said birthplace was 'not important at all'.
Clear Divides: Ethnicity, Age, and Politics
The results expose clear fault lines within British society. Attitudes are notably split along ethnic lines. A majority of people from ethnic minority backgrounds believe that heritage, birthplace, and ancestry are unimportant or totally inessential to being British. In contrast, white respondents were more likely to value these factors.
For instance, 91% of white people said it was important to respect Britain's political institutions and laws, compared to 83% of ethnic minorities. On ancestry, while 51% of all people said it was not important to have British ancestry, this figure rose to 76% among non-white respondents.
The generational divide is equally stark. Among people aged 65 and over, 83% said they were proud of Britain's history. This pride plummets among the young, with only half that number (around 41-42%) of 18-24 year olds expressing the same sentiment.
This pattern was mirrored in pride for the Armed Forces, with 87% of older people proud of those who serve, versus just 42% of younger adults.
Political Loyalties and Traditional Views
The poll also uncovered a deep political chasm. While 87% of Conservative voters declared pride in British history, only 54% of Labour supporters agreed. Similarly, 88% of Tories expressed pride in the Armed Forces, compared to 68% of Labour voters.
The survey indicated that supporters of Nigel Farage's Reform UK party hold some of the most traditional views. More than a third (37%) of Reform UK voters said they would be prouder of Britain if there were fewer people from minority ethnic backgrounds in a decade's time. One in ten (10%) went further, stating they believed it was important to have white skin to be a good British citizen.
In a reflection of Britain's secular shift, only 17% of people said being Christian was important to Britishness. Despite the debates over identity, a strong consensus remains on one point: 76% of all people agreed that feeling British is an important part of actually being British.
The findings present a complex picture of a nation grappling with its identity, where a shared sense of belonging coexists with increasingly divergent views on how that belonging is defined and earned.
