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128-398: Andrea Huftika Reah , better known as Huffty , sometime credited as Huffty Riah or miscredited as Huffy Reah , is a British television personality. She was a presenter of Channel 4 's 1990s television series, The Word . In his autobiography My Word , host Terry Christian said that Huffty, a Catholic lesbian from Whitley Bay who is listed in the alumni of Whitley Bay High School ,
256-529: A British Day to celebrate. One of the central issues identified at the Fabian Society conference was how the English identity fits within the framework of a devolved United Kingdom. An expression of Her Majesty's Government 's initiative to promote Britishness was the inaugural Veterans' Day which was first held on 27 June 2006. As well as celebrating the achievements of armed forces veterans, Brown's speech at
384-624: A Pre-Roman British monarchy". Following the death of Elizabeth I of England in 1603, the throne of England was inherited by James VI, King of Scots, so that the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united in a personal union under James VI of Scotland and I of England , an event referred to as the Union of the Crowns . King James advocated full political union between England and Scotland, and on 20 October 1604 proclaimed his assumption of
512-412: A Scottish Reformation , Edward VI of England , under the counsel of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset , advocated a union with the Kingdom of Scotland , joining England, Wales and Scotland in a united Protestant Great Britain. The Duke of Somerset supported the unification of the English, Welsh and Scots under the "indifferent old name of Britons" on the basis that their monarchies "both derived from
640-463: A Treaty of Union was agreed in 1706 and was then ratified by the parliaments of both countries with the passing of the Acts of Union 1707 . With effect from 1 May 1707, this created a new sovereign state called the " Kingdom of Great Britain ". This kingdom "began as a hostile merger", but led to a "full partnership in the most powerful going concern in the world"; historian Simon Schama stated that "it
768-593: A Welsh nationalist politician active in the late 20th century, rebuffed Britishness as "a political synonym for Englishness which extends English culture over the Scots, Welsh and the Irish". In 2004, Sir Bernard Crick , political theorist and democratic socialist tasked with developing the life in the United Kingdom test said: Britishness, to me, is an overarching political and legal concept: it signifies allegiance to
896-457: A points-based immigration system . The UK Government can also grant settlement to foreign nationals, which confers on them indefinite leave to remain in the UK, without granting them British citizenship. Grants of settlement are made on the basis of various factors, including employment, family formation and reunification, and asylum (including to deal with backlogs of asylum cases). Net migration into
1024-552: A "marked change in attitudes" in Great Britain towards Catholics and Catholicism. A "significant" example of this was the collaboration between Augustus Welby Pugin , an "ardent Roman Catholic" and son of a Frenchman, and Sir Charles Barry , "a confirmed Protestant", in redesigning the Palace of Westminster —"the building that most enshrines ... Britain's national and imperial pre-tensions". Protestantism gave way to imperialism as
1152-796: A Cabinet committee in June 1950 to find "ways which might be adopted to check the immigration into this country of coloured people from British colonial territories". Indians began arriving in the UK in large numbers shortly after their country gained independence in 1947, although there were a number of people from India living in the UK even in the earlier years. More than 60,000 arrived before 1955, many of whom drove buses, or worked in foundries or textile factories. The flow of Indian immigrants peaked between 1965 and 1972, boosted in particular by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin 's sudden decision to expel all 50,000 Asians (people of Indian or Pakistani origin) from Uganda . Around 30,000 Ugandan Asians emigrated to
1280-632: A combination of disease, Spanish hostility, Scottish mismanagement and opposition to the scheme by the East India Company and the English government (who did not want to provoke the Spanish into war) this imperial venture ended in "catastrophic failure", with an estimated "25% of Scotland's total liquid capital" lost. The events of the Darien Scheme, and the passing by the English Parliament of
1408-833: A desire to reunite with family and friends and for better employment opportunities. One of the Four Freedoms of the European Union , of which the United Kingdom is a former member, is the right to the free movement of workers as codified in the Directive 2004/38/EC and the EEA Regulations (UK) . Research conducted by the Migration Policy Institute for the Equality and Human Rights Commission suggests that, between May 2004 and September 2009, 1.5 million workers migrated from
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#17328691916571536-442: A distinction between nationality by descent and nationality other than by descent . Citizens by descent cannot automatically pass on British nationality to a child born outside the United Kingdom or its Overseas Territories (though in some situations the child can be registered as a citizen). Immigration officers have to be satisfied with a person's nationality and identity and entry can be refused if they are not satisfied. During
1664-455: A foreign country for the purposes of any law in the United Kingdom. This act was initiated at a time when Ireland withdrew from the Commonwealth of Nations after declaring itself a republic. Commonwealth immigration , made up largely of economic migrants , rose from 3,000 per year in 1953 to 46,800 in 1956 and 136,400 in 1961. The heavy numbers of migrants resulted in the establishment of
1792-666: A historical context, "British" or "Britons" can refer to the Ancient Britons , the Celtic -speaking inhabitants of Great Britain during the Iron Age , whose descendants formed the major part of the modern Welsh people , Cornish people , Bretons and considerable proportions of English people . It also refers to citizens of the former British Empire , who settled in the country prior to 1973, and hold neither UK citizenship nor nationality. Though early assertions of being British date from
1920-517: A national 'tradition'". The First World War "reinforced the sense of Britishness" and patriotism in the early 20th century. Through war service (including conscription in Great Britain), "the English, Welsh, Scots and Irish fought as British". The aftermath of the war institutionalised British national commemoration through Remembrance Sunday and the Poppy Appeal . The Second World War had
2048-812: A numerical minority, these Britons "exercised a dominant influence" upon the culture and politics of those lands. In Australia, Canada and New Zealand , "people of British origin came to constitute the majority of the population", contributing to these states becoming integral to the Anglosphere . The United Kingdom Census 1861 estimated the size of the overseas British to be around 2.5 million, but concluded that most of these were "not conventional settlers" but rather "travellers, merchants, professionals, and military personnel". By 1890, there were over 1.5 million further UK-born people living in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa . A 2006 publication from
2176-523: A parent or grandparent from the UK). At the same time the proposal opened the door to free movement of certain European workers from European Economic Community member states. Seven backbenchers voted against the proposed Rules and 53 abstained, leading to defeat. Minutes from a Cabinet meeting the next day conclude that "anti-European sentiment" among backbenchers, who instead preferred "Old Commonwealth" migration to
2304-477: A portion of the British Empire , provided they be made so in reality and not in name alone; they are ready to become a kind of West Briton if made so in benefits and justice; but if not, we are Irishmen again. Ireland, from 1801 to 1923 , was marked by a succession of economic and political mismanagement and neglect, which marginalised the Irish, and advanced Irish nationalism . In the forty years that followed
2432-474: A prior history of immigration. Research published by University College London in July 2009 found that, on average, A8 migrants were younger and better educated than the native population, and that if they had the same demographic characteristics of natives, would be 13 per cent less likely to claim benefits and 28 per cent less likely to live in social housing . Non-European immigration rose significantly during
2560-660: A result of the expulsion of Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. A majority of the Pakistani immigrants to UK trace their origin to Mirpur district in the region presently called Azad Kashmir . Although the Committee recommended not to introduce restrictions, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed in 1962 as a response to public sentiment that the new arrivals "should return to their own countries" and that "no more of them come to this country". Introducing
2688-525: A similar unifying effect upon the British people, however, its outcome was to recondition Britishness on a basis of democratic values and its marked contrast to Europeanism . Notions that the British "constituted an Island race, and that it stood for democracy were reinforced during the war and they were circulated in the country through Winston Churchill 's speeches, history books and newspapers". At its international zenith, "Britishness joined peoples around
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#17328691916572816-558: A southern part of Scotland ( Strathclyde ). In addition, the term was also applied to Brittany in what is today France and Britonia in north west Spain , both regions having been colonised in the 5th century by Britons fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasions. However, the term "Britannia" persisted as the Latin name for the island. The Historia Brittonum claimed legendary origins as a prestigious genealogy for Brittonic kings , followed by
2944-621: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . British people Modern ethnicities British people or Britons , also known colloquially as Brits , are the citizens of the United Kingdom , the British Overseas Territories , and the Crown dependencies . British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, which can be acquired, for instance, by descent from British nationals. When used in
3072-557: Is held with strong conviction by Unionists . Modern Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic groups that settled in Great Britain in and before the 11th century: Prehistoric , Brittonic, Roman , Anglo-Saxon , Norse , and Normans . The progressive political unification of the British Isles facilitated migration, cultural and linguistic exchange, and intermarriage between the peoples of England, Scotland and Wales during
3200-741: The Historia Regum Britanniae , which popularised this pseudo-history to support the claims of the Kings of England . During the Middle Ages , and particularly in the Tudor period , the term "British" was used to refer to the Welsh people and Cornish people . At that time, it was "the long held belief that these were the remaining descendants of the Britons and that they spoke ' the British tongue ' ". This notion
3328-558: The Act of Settlement 1701 asserting the right to choose the order of succession for English, Scottish and Irish thrones, escalated political hostilities between England and Scotland and neutralised calls for a united British people. The Parliament of Scotland responded by passing the Act of Security 1704 , allowing it to appoint a different monarch to succeed to the Scottish crown from that of England if it so wished. The English political perspective
3456-527: The Age of Discovery gave new-found imperial power and wealth to the English and Welsh at the end of the 17th century, Scotland suffered from a long-standing weak economy. In response, the Scottish kingdom, in opposition to William II of Scotland (III of England) , commenced the Darien Scheme , an attempt to establish a Scottish imperial outlet—the colony of New Caledonia—on the isthmus of Panama . However, through
3584-536: The Age of Discovery , the British were one of the earliest and largest communities to emigrate out of Europe , and the British Empire's expansion during the first half of the 19th century triggered an "extraordinary dispersion of the British people", resulting in particular concentrations "in Australasia and North America ". The British Empire was "built on waves of migration overseas by British people", who left
3712-596: The Brittanic Isles , and the peoples of what are today England , Wales , Scotland and the Isle of Man of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοί ( Prettanoi ), Priteni , Pritani or Pretani . The group included Ireland , which was referred to as Ierne ( Insula sacra "sacred island" as the Greeks interpreted it) "inhabited by the different race of Hiberni " ( gens hibernorum ), and Britain as insula Albionum , "island of
3840-566: The Celts . By 50 BC, Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a collective name for the British Isles . However, with the Roman conquest of Britain , the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, and later Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia (modern day Scotland north of the rivers Forth and Clyde), although the people of Caledonia and the north were also
3968-509: The Chartered Institute of Housing , Amnesty International , University of Oxford 's social geographer Danny Dorling , and other public figures. The earliest migrations of Britons date from the 5th and 6th centuries AD, when Brittonic Celts fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasions migrated what is today northern France and north western Spain and forged the colonies of Brittany and Britonia . Brittany remained independent of France until
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4096-584: The Commonwealth of Nations during the mid-20th century. Since the British Nationality Act 1948 and the subsequent mass immigration to the United Kingdom from the Commonwealth and elsewhere in the world, "the expression and experience of cultural life in Britain has become fragmented and reshaped by the influences of gender, ethnicity, class and region". Furthermore, the United Kingdom's membership of
4224-484: The European Economic Community in 1973 eroded the concept of Britishness as distinct from continental Europe . As such, since the 1970s "there has been a sense of crisis about what it has meant to be British", exacerbated by growing demands for greater political autonomy for Northern Ireland , Scotland , and Wales . The late 20th century saw major changes to the politics of the United Kingdom with
4352-451: The Heath administration introduced the first proposed Immigration Rules under the 1971 act. The rules proposal drew criticism from Conservative Party backbenchers , because it formally implemented a limit of six months of leave to enter as a visitor for white " Old Commonwealth " citizens who were "non-patrial" (did not have Right of Abode under the 1971 act, generally because they did not have
4480-923: The House of Commons Library , several definitions for a migrant exist in United Kingdom. A migrant can be: The Immigration Act 1971, section 1, provides for "rules laid down by the Secretary of State as to the practice to be followed in the administration of this Act". By August 2018, the Immigration Rules stood at almost 375,000 words, often so precise and detailed that the services of a lawyer are typically required to navigate them. Individuals wanting to apply for British citizenship have to demonstrate their commitment by learning English , Welsh or Scottish Gaelic and by having an understanding of British history , culture and traditions. Any individual seeking to apply for naturalisation or indefinite leave to remain must pass
4608-545: The Immigration Act 1971 , were updated in 2012 (Appendix FM) to create a strict minimum income threshold for non-EU spouses and children to be given leave to remain in the UK . These rules were challenged in the courts, and in 2017 the Supreme Court found that while "the minimum income threshold is accepted in principle" they decided that the rules and guidance were defective and unlawful until amended to give more weight to
4736-588: The Immigration Act 1971 . Having faced removal, or been deported, many British people of African Caribbean heritage suffered with loss of home, livelihood, and health. As a result of the political scandal, many institutions and elected politicians publicly affirmed that these individuals, while not legally holding British citizenship or nationality, were, in fact, British people. These included British Prime Minister Theresa May , London Mayor Sadiq Khan , Her Majesty's CPS Inspectorate Wendy Williams and her House of Commons -ordered Windrush Lessons Learned Review ,
4864-483: The Institute for Public Policy Research estimated 5.6 million Britons lived outside of the United Kingdom. Outside of the United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories , up to 76% of Australians , 70% of New Zealanders , 48% of Canadians , 33% of Americans , 4% of Chileans and 3% of South Africans have ancestry from the British Isles . Hong Kong has the highest proportion of British nationals outside of
4992-528: The Late Middle Ages , the Union of the Crowns in 1603 and the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 triggered a sense of British national identity. The notion of Britishness and a shared British identity was forged during the 18th century and early 19th century when Britain engaged in several global conflicts with France, and developed further during the Victorian era . The complex history of
5120-624: The Napoleonic Wars with the First French Empire advanced, "the English and Scottish learned to define themselves as similar primarily by virtue of not being French or Catholic". In combination with sea power and empire, the notion of Britishness became more "closely bound up with Protestantism", a cultural commonality through which the English, Scots and Welsh became "fused together, and remain[ed] so, despite their many cultural divergences". The neo-classical monuments that proliferated at
5248-683: The Scottish Government was able to get an agreement from the Home Office for their Fresh Talent Initiative which was designed to encourage foreign graduates of Scottish universities to stay in Scotland to look for employment. The Fresh Talent Initiative ended in 2008, following the introduction of points-based system. In the lead-up to World War II , many people from Germany , particularly those belonging to minorities which were persecuted under Nazi rule, such as Jews , sought to emigrate to
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5376-517: The United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention , though many of these people also come from former territories of the British Empire. About 70% of the population increase between the 2001 and 2011 censuses was due to foreign-born immigration. As of 2013, 7.5 million people (11.9% of the population at the time) were born overseas, although the census gives no indication of their immigration status or intended length of stay. The UK currently uses
5504-455: The Windrush scandal illustrated complex developments in British peoplehood, when it was revealed hundreds of Britons had been wrongfully deported. With roots in the break-up of the empire, and post-war rebuilding; the Windrush generation had arrived as CUKC citizens in the 1950s and 1960s. Born in former British colonies , they settled in the UK before 1973, and were granted "right of abode" by
5632-479: The Worker Registration Scheme . Many other European Union member states exercised their right to temporary immigration control (which ended in 2011) over entrants from these accession states, but some subsequently removed these restrictions ahead of the 2011 deadline. In June 2010, The newly elected Coalition government brought in a temporary cap on immigration of those entering the UK from outside
5760-531: The accession to the European Union of eight Central and Eastern European states , since there is free movement of labour within the EU. In 2021, since Brexit came into effect, previous EU citizenship's right to newly move to and reside in the UK on a permanent basis does not apply anymore. A smaller number have come as asylum seekers (not included in the definition of immigration ) seeking protection as refugees under
5888-539: The federation of Australia was achieved on 1 January 1901. Its history of British dominance meant that Australia was "grounded in British culture and political traditions that had been transported to the Australian colonies in the nineteenth century and become part of colonial culture and politics". Australia maintains the Westminster system of parliamentary government and Charles III as King of Australia . Until 1987,
6016-523: The import of Scottish products into England and its colonies (about half of Scotland's trade). However, the Act contained a provision that it would be suspended if the Parliament of Scotland entered into negotiations regarding the creation of a unified Parliament of Great Britain , which in turn would refund Scottish financial losses on the Darien Scheme. Despite opposition from within both Scotland and England,
6144-621: The style "King of Great Britain", though this title was rejected by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland and thus had no basis in either English law or Scots law . Despite centuries of military and religious conflict, the Kingdoms of England and Scotland had been "drawing increasingly together" since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century and the Union of
6272-525: The 1,218,000 immigrants who came to the UK in 2023, only 126,000 were citizens of EU member states. Since the full implementation of Brexit, more EU nationals are leaving the UK than moving to it. In the 12 months to June 2023, net migration of EU nationals was negative 86,000. Figures published in November 2021 by the Office for National Statistics showed that more EU nationals left the UK in 2020 than arrived for
6400-581: The 1980s and 1990s, the civil war in Somalia led to a large number of Somali immigrants, comprising the majority of the current Somali population in the UK . In the late-1980s, most of these early migrants were granted asylum, while those arriving later in the 1990s more often obtained temporary status. There has also been some secondary migration of Somalis to the UK from the Netherlands and Denmark . The main driving forces behind this secondary migration included
6528-428: The 7th century forced the Britons to the west, i.e. Wales and Cornwall , and north, i.e. Cumbria , Strathclyde and northern Scotland. This legendary Celtic history of Great Britain is known as the Matter of Britain . The Matter of Britain, a national myth , was retold or reinterpreted in works by Gerald of Wales , a Cambro-Norman chronicler who, in the 12th and 13th centuries, used the term "British" to refer to
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#17328691916576656-443: The Albions". The term Pritani may have reached Pytheas from the Gauls , who possibly used it as their term for the inhabitants of the islands. Greek and Roman writers, in the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, name the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland as the Priteni , the origin of the Latin word Britanni . It has been suggested that this name derives from a Gaulish description translated as "people of
6784-452: The Battle of Brunanburh would "define the shape of Britain into the modern era"; it was a "showdown for two very different ethnic identities – a Norse Celtic alliance versus Anglo Saxon. It aimed to settle once and for all whether Britain would be controlled by a single imperial power or remain several separate independent kingdoms, a split in perceptions which is still very much with us today". However, historian Simon Schama suggested that it
6912-455: The British Empire were encouraged to immigrate to Britain to work as part of the recovery from World War II. The population of the UK stands at around 67 million, with 50 million being ethnic British. Outside of the UK, the British diaspora totals around 200 million with higher concentrations in the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, with smaller concentrations in the Republic of Ireland, Chile, South Africa, and parts of
7040-402: The British Nationality Act 1965 was adopted. Shortly afterwards, mainly Asian British passport holders from Kenya and Uganda , fearing discrimination from their own national governments, began to arrive in Britain; as they had retained their British nationality granted by the 1948 Act, they were not subject to the later controls. To manage this exodus from the former East African colonies,
7168-420: The British population. The British are a diverse, multinational , multicultural and multilingual people, with "strong regional accents, expressions and identities". The social structure of the United Kingdom has changed radically since the 19th century, with a decline in religious observance, enlargement of the middle class , and increased ethnic diversity , particularly since the 1950s, when citizens of
7296-459: The Caribbean. The earliest known reference to the inhabitants of Great Britain may have come from 4th century BC records of the voyage of Pytheas , a Greek geographer who made a voyage of exploration around the British Isles . Although none of his own writings remain, writers during the time of the Roman Empire made much reference to them. Pytheas called the islands collectively αἱ Βρεττανίαι ( hai Brettaniai ), which has been translated as
7424-415: The Crowns in 1603. A broadly shared language, island, monarch, religion and Bible (the Authorized King James Version ) further contributed to a growing cultural alliance between the two sovereign realms and their peoples. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 resulted in a pair of Acts of the English and Scottish legislatures—the Bill of Rights 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 respectively—that ensured that
7552-486: The EU in 2004 left the UK than arrived. Research commissioned by the Regeneration and Economic Development Analysis Expert Panel suggested migrant workers leaving the UK due to the recession are likely to return in the future and cited evidence of "strong links between initial temporary migration and intended permanent migration". The Government announced that the same rules would not apply to nationals of Romania and Bulgaria (A2 nationals) when those countries acceded to
7680-411: The EU in 2007. Instead, restrictions were put in place to limit migration to students , the self-employed, highly skilled migrants and food and agricultural workers. A report by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) entitled International Migration and Rural Economies , suggests that intra-EU migration since enlargement has resulted in migrants settling in rural locations without
7808-423: The EU, with the limit set as 24,100, in order to stop an expected rush of applications before a permanent cap was imposed in April 2011. The cap caused tension within the coalition, and then-Business Secretary Vince Cable argued that it was harming British businesses. Others have argued that the cap would have a negative impact on Britain's status as a centre for scientific research. The Immigration Rules, under
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#17328691916577936-508: The Great 's victory against the Vikings performed to Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1740 to commemorate the accession of George I and the birthday of Princess Augusta . " Rule, Britannia! " was the climactic piece of the opera and quickly became a " jingoistic " British patriotic song celebrating "Britain's supremacy offshore". An island country with a series of victories for the Royal Navy associated empire and naval warfare "inextricably with ideals of Britishness and Britain's place in
8064-411: The Home secretary James Callaghan under a Labour party government introduced a bill in February 1968, and got it passed within a week. The new act called Commonwealth Immigrants Act placed entry controls on holders of British passports who had "no substantial connection" with Britain by setting up a new system. For the first time, the 1968 Act required migrants to have a "substantial connection with
8192-438: The Scots and the English respectively, with the former gaining some preference in Scotland, particularly by the economists and philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment . Indeed, it was the "Scots [who] played key roles in shaping the contours of British identity"; "their scepticism about the Union allowed the Scots the space and time in which to dominate the construction of Britishness in its early crucial years", drawing upon
8320-471: The Second World War, people from the United Kingdom made up a large majority of people coming to Australia, meaning that many people born in Australia can trace their origins to Britain. The colony of New South Wales , founded on 26 January 1788, was part of the eastern half of Australia claimed by the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1770, and initially settled by Britons through penal transportation . Together with another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies,
8448-432: The UK (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) below 250,000 per year. In 2021, net migration to the UK was 488,000, up from 184,000 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Net migration to the UK reached a record high of 764,000 in 2022, with immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000. Most of the migrants came from non-EU countries, including India , Nigeria , China and Pakistan . Of
8576-543: The UK during 2022 is reported to have reached a record high of 764,000, with immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000. Net migration was 685,000 in 2023. Of the 1,218,000 migrants in 2023, only 10% were citizens of EU member states. Around 250,000 people came from India , 141,000 from Nigeria , 90,000 from China and 83,000 from Pakistan . Around 50,000 people, including those from Ukraine and Hong Kong , came for humanitarian reasons in 2023, down from 162,000 in 2022. According to an August 2018 publication of
8704-403: The UK every year from the Commonwealth; this decreased in the 1980s and early-1990s to around 54,000 per year, only to rise again to around 97,000 by 1999. The total number of Commonwealth immigrants since 1962 is estimated at 2,500,000. The British Nationality Act 1981 , which was enacted in 1983, distinguishes between British citizens and British Overseas Territories citizens. It also made
8832-421: The UK, particularly Poles and Ukrainians . The UK recruited displaced people as so-called European Volunteer Workers in order to provide labour to industries that were required in order to aid economic recovery after the war. In the 1951 United Kingdom census , the Polish-born population of the country numbered some 162,339, up from 44,642 in 1931. There was also an influx of refugees from Hungary , following
8960-453: The UK, was at the core of the result. The proposal was revised, and the first Rules were passed in January 1973. The Act abolished the distinction between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth entrants. The Conservative government nevertheless allowed, amid much controversy, the immigration of 27,000 individuals displaced from Uganda after the coup d'état led by Idi Amin in 1971. In the 1970s, an average of 72,000 immigrants were settling in
9088-429: The UK. Following the independence of Pakistan , Pakistani immigration to the United Kingdom increased, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. Many Pakistanis came to Britain following the turmoil during the partition of India and the subsequent independence of Pakistan; among them were those who migrated to Pakistan upon displacement from India, and then emigrated to the UK, thus becoming secondary migrants. Migration
9216-516: The Union, successive British governments grappled with the problems of governing a country which had as Benjamin Disraeli , a staunch anti-Irish and anti-Catholic member of the Conservative party with a virulent racial and religious prejudice towards Ireland put it in 1844, "a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church, and in addition the weakest executive in the world". Although
9344-805: The United Kingdom and "reached across the globe and permanently affected population structures in three continents". As a result of the British colonisation of the Americas , what became the United States was "easily the greatest single destination of emigrant British", but in Australia the British experienced a birth rate higher than "anything seen before", resulting in the displacement of indigenous Australians . In colonies such as Southern Rhodesia , British East Africa and Cape Colony , permanently resident British communities were established and, whilst never more than
9472-530: The United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories, with 47% of Hong Kong residents holding a British National (Overseas) status or a British citizenship. The next highest concentrations of British citizens outside of the United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories are located in Barbados (10%), the Republic of Ireland (7%), Australia (6%) and New Zealand (5%). From the beginning of Australia's colonial period until after
9600-401: The United Kingdom", namely to be connected by birth or ancestry to a UK national. Those who did not could only obtain British nationality at the discretion of the national authorities. The Conservative MP Enoch Powell had campaigned hard for tighter controls on immigration, however one month after the adoption of the Act, Enoch Powell made his " Rivers of Blood " speech. Enoch Powell gave
9728-461: The United Kingdom, and it is estimated that as many as 50,000 may have been successful. There were immigration caps on the number who could enter and, subsequently, some applicants were turned away. When the UK declared war on Germany , however, migration between the countries ceased. At the end of the Second World War, substantial groups of people from Soviet -controlled territories settled in
9856-541: The burden of job losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic falling disproportionately on foreign-born workers. Interviews conducted by Al Jazeera suggested that Brexit may have been a more significant push factor than the pandemic. Subsequent analysis of the impact of the pandemic on population statistics generated by the Labour Force Survey (LFS) suggests that "LFS-based estimates are likely to significantly overstate
9984-466: The census Bureau has stated that most of these are of Anglo-Celtic colonial stock. All six states of Australia retain the Union Jack in the canton of their respective flags. Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922 Since 1945, immigration to the United Kingdom, controlled by British immigration law and to an extent by British nationality law , has been significant, in particular from
10112-455: The change in the non-UK national population". Payroll data shows that the number of EU workers fell by 7 per cent between October–December 2019 and October–December 2020. The effects of the migration crisis continue in public discourse beyond the 2010s, as evident in the racist and anti-immigration protests and riots that have increased following Brexit. Office for National Statistics migration estimates published in November 2021 suggest that
10240-507: The crisis including Brexit, protests and riots, the rise of far-right political parties. The foreign-born population increased from about 5.3 million in 2004 to nearly 9.3 million in 2018. In the decade leading up to 2018, the number of non-EU migrants outnumbered EU migrants while the number of EU migrants increased more rapidly. EU migrants were noted to be less likely to become British citizens than non-EU migrants. In 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to reduce net migration to
10368-471: The crushing of the 1956 Hungarian revolution , numbering 20,990 people. Following the end of the Second World War , the British Nationality Act 1948 allowed the 800,000,000 subjects in the British Empire to live and work in the United Kingdom without needing a visa , although this was not an anticipated consequence of the Act, which "was never intended to facilitate mass migration". This migration
10496-401: The dominant component of the British Isles in terms of size, population and power"; Magna Carta , common law and hostility to continental Europe were English factors that influenced British sensibilities. The political union in 1800 of the predominantly Catholic Kingdom of Ireland with Great Britain, coupled with the outbreak of peace with France in the early 19th century, challenged
10624-642: The early 11th century. The English had been unified under a single nation state in 937 by King Athelstan of Wessex after the Battle of Brunanburh . Before then, the English (known then in Old English as the Anglecynn ) were under the governance of independent Anglo-Saxon petty kingdoms , which gradually coalesced into a Heptarchy of seven powerful states, the most powerful of which were Mercia and Wessex . Scottish historian and archaeologist Neil Oliver said that
10752-422: The early 16th century and still retains a distinct Brittonic culture and language, whilst Britonia in modern Galicia was absorbed into Spanish states by the end of the 9th century AD. Britons – people with British citizenship or of British descent – have a significant presence in a number of countries other than the United Kingdom, and in particular in those with historic connections to the British Empire . After
10880-526: The end of the 18th century and the start of the 19th century, such as The Kymin at Monmouth , were attempts to meld the concepts of Britishness with the Greco-Roman empires of classical antiquity . The new and expanding British Empire provided "unprecedented opportunities for upward mobility and the accumulations of wealth", and so the "Scottish, Welsh and Irish populations were prepared to suppress nationalist issues on pragmatic grounds". The British Empire
11008-521: The establishment of devolved national administrations for Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales following pre-legislative referendums . Calls for greater autonomy for the four countries of the United Kingdom had existed since their original union with each other, but gathered pace in the 1960s and 1970s. Devolution has led to "increasingly assertive Scottish, Welsh and Irish national identities", resulting in more diverse cultural expressions of Britishness, or else its outright rejection: Gwynfor Evans ,
11136-461: The expansion of the EU on 1 May 2004, the UK has accepted immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe , Malta and Cyprus , although the substantial Maltese, Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities were established earlier through their Commonwealth connection. There are restrictions on the benefits that members of eight of these accession countries ('A8' nationals) can claim, which are covered by
11264-450: The famous " Rivers of Blood " speech on 20 April 1968 in which he warned his audience of what he believed would be the consequences of continued unchecked immigration from the Commonwealth to Britain. Conservative Party leader Edward Heath fired Powell from his Shadow Cabinet the day after the speech, and he never held another senior political post. Powell received 110,000 letters – only 2,300 disapproving. Three days after
11392-416: The first event for the celebration said: Scots and people from the rest of the UK share the purpose that Britain has something to say to the rest of the world about the values of freedom, democracy and the dignity of the people that you stand up for. So at a time when people can talk about football and devolution and money, it is important that we also remember the values that we share in common. In 2018,
11520-477: The first time since 1991, a net emigration of around 94,000. ... At first sight, the UK now has one of the most liberal immigration systems in the world outside the EU. In January 2021, analysis by the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence suggested that there had been an "unprecedented exodus" of almost 1.3 million foreign-born people from the UK between July 2019 and September 2020, in part due to
11648-471: The formation of the United Kingdom created a "particular sense of nationhood and belonging" in Great Britain; Britishness became "superimposed on much older identities", of English , Scots and Welsh cultures, whose distinctiveness still resists notions of a homogenised British identity. Because of longstanding ethno-sectarian divisions, British identity in Northern Ireland is controversial, but it
11776-522: The former territories of the British Empire and the European Union. Since the accession of the UK to the European Communities in the 1970s and the creation of the EU in the early 1990s, immigrants relocated from member states of the European Union , exercising one of the European Union 's Four Freedoms . Immigration to and from Central and Eastern Europe has increased since 2004 with
11904-586: The forms", referring to the custom of tattooing or painting their bodies with blue woad made from Isatis tinctoria . Parthenius , an Ancient Greek grammarian, and the Etymologicum Genuinum , a 9th-century lexical encyclopaedia, mention a mythical character Bretannus (the Latinised form of the Ancient Greek : Βρεττανός , Brettanós ) as the father of Celtine , mother of Celtus, the eponymous ancestor of
12032-625: The health service would needed to have been curtailed. Until the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 , all Commonwealth citizens could enter and stay in the UK without any restriction. The Act made Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKCs), whose passports were not directly issued by the UK Government (i.e., passports issued by the Governor of a colony or by the Commander of a British protectorate ), subject to immigration control. In 1972,
12160-515: The interests of the children involved, and that sources of funding other than the British spouse's income should be considered. Since the mid-2010s there has been a significant amount of discussion and controversy propagated by the now infamous " migration crisis " in 2015. The crisis marked a period of intense debate that saw a rise in racist and anti-immigration rhetoric, in particular both fueled by and fueling Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim sentiment. There have been far-reaching effects induced by
12288-648: The late 13th and early 14th centuries. Though Wales was conquered by England, and its legal system replaced by that of the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 , the Welsh endured as a nation distinct from the English ; and to some degree the Cornish people , although conquered into England by the 11th century, also retained a distinct Brittonic identity and language. Later, with both an English Reformation and
12416-512: The late Middle Ages, early modern period and beyond. Since 1922 and earlier, there has been immigration to the United Kingdom by people from what is now the Republic of Ireland , the Commonwealth , mainland Europe and elsewhere; they and their descendants are mostly British citizens, with some assuming a British, dual or hyphenated identity. This includes the groups Black British and Asian British people , which together constitute around 10% of
12544-491: The laws, government and broad moral and political concepts—like tolerance and freedom of expression—that hold the United Kingdom together. Gordon Brown initiated a debate on British identity in 2006. Brown's speech to the Fabian Society 's Britishness Conference proposed that British values demand a new constitutional settlement and symbols to represent a modern patriotism, including a new youth community service scheme and
12672-489: The leading element of British national identity during the Victorian and Edwardian eras , and as such, a series of royal, imperial and national celebrations were introduced to the British people to assert imperial British culture and give themselves a sense of uniqueness, superiority and national consciousness. Empire Day and jubilees of Queen Victoria were introduced to the British middle class , but quickly "merged into
12800-549: The legislation to the House of Commons , the Conservative Home Secretary Rab Butler stated that: The justification for the control which is included in this Bill, which I shall describe in more detail in a few moments, is that a sizeable part of the entire population of the Earth is at present legally entitled to come and stay in this already densely populated country. It amounts altogether to one-quarter of
12928-432: The lineal descendants of the ancient Britons – a word that was still used to refer exclusively to the Welsh". For the English, however, by the Victorian era their enthusiastic adoption of Britishness had meant that, for them, Britishness "meant the same as 'Englishness'", so much so that "Englishness and Britishness" and "'England' and 'Britain' were used interchangeably in a variety of contexts". England has "always been
13056-570: The national status of Australian citizens was formally described as "British Subject: Citizen of Australia". Britons continue to make up a substantial proportion of immigrants. By 1947, Australia was fundamentally British in origin with 7,524,129 or 99.3% of the population declaring themselves as European. In the 2016 census , a large proportion of Australians self-identified with British ancestral origins, including 36.1% or 7,852,224 as English and 9.3% (2,023,474) as Scottish alone. A substantial proportion —33.5%— chose to identify as 'Australian',
13184-408: The new EU member states to the UK, but that many have returned home, with the result that the number of nationals of the new member states in the UK increased by some 700,000 over the same period. Migration from Poland in particular has become temporary and circular in nature. In 2009, for the first time since the enlargement, more nationals of the eight Central and Eastern European states that joined
13312-565: The north of Ireland to the north of Great Britain, founding Gaelic kingdoms such as Dál Riata and Alba , which would eventually subsume the native Brittonic and Pictish kingdoms and become Scotland. In this sub-Roman Britain , as Anglo-Saxon culture spread across southern and eastern Britain and Gaelic through much of the north, the demonym "Briton" became restricted to the Brittonic-speaking inhabitants of what would later be called Wales , Cornwall , North West England ( Cumbria ), and
13440-527: The notion of a shared "spirit of liberty common to both Saxon and Celt ... against the usurpation of the Church of Rome". James Thomson was a poet and playwright born to a Church of Scotland minister in the Scottish Lowlands in 1700 who was interested in forging a common British culture and national identity in this way. In collaboration with Thomas Arne , they wrote Alfred , an opera about Alfred
13568-613: The official Life in the UK test . Visas for immigration are managed by UK Visas and Immigration , a department within the Home Office . Applications are made at UK embassies or consulates or directly to UK Visas and Immigration, depending upon the type of visa or permit required. The UK uses a points-based immigration system . Tier 1 in the new system – which replaced the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme – gives points for age, education, earning, previous UK experience but not for work experience. The points-based system
13696-599: The people later known as the Welsh. The indigenous people of the British Isles have a combination of Celtic , Anglo-Saxon , Norse and Norman ancestry. Between the 8th and 11th centuries, "three major cultural divisions" emerged in Great Britain: the English , the Scots and the Welsh . The earlier Brittonic Celtic polities in what are today England and Scotland were absorbed into Anglo-Saxon England and Gaelic Scotland by
13824-460: The period from 1997, not least because of the government 's abolition of the primary purpose rule in June 1997. This change made it easier for UK residents to bring foreign spouses into the country. The former government adviser Andrew Neather in the Evening Standard stated that the deliberate policy of ministers from late-2000 until early-2008 was to open up the UK to mass migration. With
13952-445: The population of the globe and at present there are no factors visible which might lead us to expect a reversal or even a modification of the immigration trend. The new Act required migrants to have a job before they arrived, to possess special skills or who would meet the "labour needs" of the national economy. In 1965, to combat the perceived injustice in the case where the wives of British subjects could not obtain British nationality,
14080-694: The previous century's concept of militant Protestant Britishness. The new, expanded United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland meant that the state had to re-evaluate its position on the civil rights of Catholics, and extend its definition of Britishness to the Irish people . Like the terms that had been invented at the time of the Acts of Union 1707, " West Briton " was introduced for the Irish after 1800. In 1832 Daniel O'Connell , an Irish politician who campaigned for Catholic Emancipation , stated in Britain's House of Commons : The people of Ireland are ready to become
14208-422: The rise of the British Empire led to a very specific drive in artistic technique, taste and sensibility for Britishness. In 1887, Frederic Harrison wrote: Morally, we Britons plant the British flag on every peak and pass; and wherever the Union Jack floats there we place the cardinal British institutions—tea, tubs, sanitary appliances, lawn tennis, and churches. The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 reflected
14336-511: The selfsame Britons during the Roman period, the Gaels not arriving until four centuries later. Following the end of Roman rule in Britain , the island of Great Britain was left open to invasion by pagan , seafaring warriors such as Germanic -speaking Anglo-Saxons and Jutes from Continental Europe , who gained control in areas around the south east, and to Middle Irish -speaking people migrating from
14464-443: The shared constitutional monarchy of England and Scotland was held only by Protestants. Despite this, although popular with the monarchy and much of the aristocracy, attempts to unite the two states by Acts of Parliament were unsuccessful in 1606, 1667 and 1689; increased political management of Scottish affairs from England had led to "criticism" and had strained Anglo-Scottish relations. While English maritime explorations during
14592-542: The speech, on 23 April, as the Race Relations Bill was being debated in the House of Commons , around 2,000 dockers walked off the job to march on Westminster protesting against Powell's dismissal, and the next day 400 meat porters from Smithfield market handed in a 92-page petition in support of Powell. At that time, 43% of junior doctors working in NHS hospitals, and some 30% of student nurses, were immigrants, without which
14720-560: The vast majority of Unionists in Ireland proclaimed themselves "simultaneously Irish and British", even for them there was a strain upon the adoption of Britishness after the Great Famine . War continued to be a unifying factor for the people of Great Britain: British jingoism re-emerged during the Boer Wars in southern Africa . The experience of military, political and economic power from
14848-525: The war against the French, and of several spectacular victories, the spear was replaced by a trident... The navy had come to be seen...as the very bulwark of British liberty and the essence of what it was to be British. From the Union of 1707 through to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Great Britain was "involved in successive, very dangerous wars with Catholic France", but which "all brought enough military and naval victories ... to flatter British pride". As
14976-467: The world in shared traditions and common loyalties that were strenuously maintained". But following the two world wars, the British Empire experienced rapid decolonisation . The secession of the Irish Free State from the United Kingdom meant that Britishness had lost "its Irish dimension" in 1922, and the shrinking empire supplanted by independence movements dwindled the appeal of British identity in
15104-459: The world". Britannia , the new national personification of Great Britain, was established in the 1750s as a representation of "nation and empire rather than any single national hero". On Britannia and British identity, historian Peter Borsay wrote: Up until 1797 Britannia was conventionally depicted holding a spear, but as a consequence of the increasingly prominent role of the Royal Navy in
15232-449: Was Edward I of England who solely was "responsible for provoking the peoples of Britain into an awareness of their nationhood" in the 13th century. Schama hypothesised that Scottish national identity , "a complex amalgam" of Gaelic , Brittonic , Pictish , Norsemen and Anglo-Norman origins, was not finally forged until the Wars of Scottish Independence against the Kingdom of England in
15360-429: Was "crucial to the idea of a British identity and to the self-image of Britishness". Indeed, the Scottish welcomed Britishness during the 19th century "for it offered a context within which they could hold on to their own identity whilst participating in, and benefiting from, the expansion of the [British] Empire". Similarly, the "new emphasis of Britishness was broadly welcomed by the Welsh who considered themselves to be
15488-609: Was a "nice girl" and "not suited to the cut and thrust" of television. Prior to presenting The Word , she had been part of the cabaret duo Boo, was a youth worker, and acted in two stage plays. Huffty presented the show for only one series but achieved popular recognition. She also appeared on the Harry Hill show in the late 1990s. She appeared in Geordie Finishing School for Girls on BBC Three in July 2011. This biographical article related to British television
15616-429: Was common for Pakistani employees to work nightshifts and at other less-desirable hours. In addition, there was a stream of migrants from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ). During the 1970s, a large number of East African-Asians, most of whom already held British passports because they had been British subjects settled in the overseas colonies, entered the United Kingdom from Kenya and Uganda , particularly as
15744-513: Was initially encouraged to help fill gaps in the UK labour market for both skilled and unskilled jobs, including in public services such as the newly created National Health Service and London Transport . Many people were specifically brought to the UK on ships; notably the Empire Windrush in 1948. The Ireland Act 1949 has the unusual status of recognising the Republic of Ireland , but affirming that its citizens are not citizens of
15872-505: Was made easier as Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth of Nations . Pakistanis were invited by employers to fill labour shortages which arose after the Second World War. As Commonwealth citizens, they were eligible for most British civic rights. They found employment in the textile industries of Lancashire and Yorkshire , manufacturing in the West Midlands , and car production and food processing industries of Luton and Slough . It
16000-427: Was one of the most astonishing transformations in European history". After 1707, a British national identity began to develop, though it was initially resisted, particularly by the English. The peoples of Great Britain had by the 1750s begun to assume a "layered identity": to think of themselves as simultaneously British and also Scottish, English, or Welsh. The terms North Briton and South Briton were devised for
16128-546: Was phased in over the course of 2008, replacing previous managed migration schemes such as the work permit system and the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. A points-based system is composed of five tiers was first described by the UK Border Agency as follows: Though immigration is a matter that is reserved to the UK Government under the legislation that established devolution for Scotland in 1999,
16256-538: Was supported by texts such as the Historia Regum Britanniae , a pseudohistorical account of ancient British history, written in the mid-12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth . The Historia Regum Britanniae chronicled the lives of legendary kings of the Britons in a narrative spanning 2000 years, beginning with the Trojans founding the ancient British nation and continuing until the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in
16384-661: Was that the appointment of a Jacobite monarchy in Scotland opened up the possibility of a Franco-Scottish military conquest of England during the Second Hundred Years' War and War of the Spanish Succession . The Parliament of England passed the Alien Act 1705 , which provided that Scottish nationals in England were to be treated as aliens and estates held by Scots would be treated as alien property, whilst also restricting
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