Recognition and preservation of English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish ethnic identities

Motion Text

That this House recognises that the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish are historic peoples with distinct ethnic identities, rooted in generations of shared ancestry, culture, heritage and connection to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively; affirms that British citizenship and English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish ethnicities are not interchangeable concepts; believes that citizenship establishes legal membership of the state, but cannot manufacture ancestral continuity or erase the distinction between historic populations and the wider national community; expresses grave concern that the political redefinition of ethnicity risks obscuring the existence and demographic security of England's, Scotland's, Wales's and Northern Ireland's historic populations; maintains that official statistics must distinguish clearly between ethnicity and citizenship; further affirms the right of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish peoples to preserve their distinct heritage and to discuss their demographic future without intimidation or accusations of prejudice; and calls on His Majesty's Government to recognise and protect English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish ethnicities as distinct historic identities, preserve accurate demographic classifications, and resist attempts to erase the distinction between citizenship, national belonging and ancestral heritage.