Britain Immigration Crisis: Welcome to the Disunited Kingdom

Britain is no longer a “cohesive” nation.

Drastic and sudden demographic changes have facilitated a strong sense of frustration among the English that is not fading anytime soon. A month ago, I reported on Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally. When I spoke to protesters there, the unrelenting mood was that of anger; as one woman said to me, “I just don’t want my daughter to live in an Islamic country.” I spoke with at least a dozen others who shared this sentiment. Perhaps this is to be expected, given that London, Manchester, and Birmingham are no longer majority English. London was 97.7 percent English in 1971 but had become only 36.8 percent English by 2021. Manchester, meanwhile, was 95.8 percent English in 1971 but only 48.7 percent English in 2021. Birmingham was 99.6 percent English in 1951 but only 44.4 percent English in 2021.

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Edward McLaren

Edward McLaren is an academic and novelist living in Oxford.

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Britain is no longer a “cohesive” nation.

Drastic and sudden demographic changes have facilitated a strong sense of frustration among the English that is not fading anytime soon. A month ago, I reported on Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally. When I spoke to protesters there, the unrelenting mood was that of anger; as one woman said to me, “I just don’t want my daughter to live in an Islamic country.” I spoke with at least a dozen others who shared this sentiment. Perhaps this is to be expected, given that London, Manchester, and Birmingham are no longer majority English. London was 97.7 percent English in 1971 but had become only 36.8 percent English by 2021. Manchester, meanwhile, was 95.8 percent English in 1971 but only 48.7 percent English in 2021. Birmingham was 99.6 percent English in 1951 but only 44.4 percent English in 2021.