I know a lot of people in Labour feel (rightly so in a lot of cases) weird about Englishness/Britishness, but identity is already the core issue driving our politics and is likely to dominate even more in the years to come.

We need a response to it that isn’t just 1) ignore i-

-t or
2) Mock peoples attachments to their country.

On a purely practical level ignoring/disdaining Englishness/Britishness isn’t going to deliver electoral gains for us, and abandons a national identity already monopolised by conservatives to drift even further right. We need-

-to start being serious about how we can articulate a left wing, inclusive and internationalist sense of patriotism, and the work begins by not acting snobbish about identity as it is now, giving ammunition to the right in the process, so we actually have a place in this debate.

I’ve seen people like Owen Jones and ofc Lisa Nandy talk about elements of England’s radical heritage and how that’s an element of national and class history we can be proud of and build a narrative around, and that kind of spirit of solidarity is something we really need to tal-

-k about more if we want to avoid lurching even further into blood and soil nationalism that we’ll otherwise slip into.

Besides this articles advocacy for abandoning Britishness (which I don’t back as Britishness’ ability to act as a unifying identity across and is good starter for broader international senses of solidarity) this article is pretty good https://englishlabournetwork.org.uk/2020/04/23/sam-tarry-mp-uniting-england-around-progressive-patriotism-constitutional-change-and-community-action/

Want to clarify also this doesn’t mean sweeping the empire under the carpet and pretending that England has always been a Merry Olde Lande ran by trade unionists and welcoming to all, schools need to teach the empire and the horrors we’ve done to people globally, but also to-

-highlight elements of our history that shows Britishness and Englishness aren’t inherently insular and imperial identities.