Gordon Brown advarer mot skotsk løsrivelse, og ser faren fra separatisme, både nasjonalt og etnisk. Trevor Phillips, leder av Commission for Equality and Human Rights, fremhver «britishness» som en unik blanding av spesielle britiske verdier.

En ny meningsmåling viser at et flertall av velgerne i Skottland og England er for løsrivelse. Scottish National Party håper å bli største parti etter valget i mai. En oppløsning av unionen og utviklingen av parallellsamfunn, kan bety en balkanisering av Storbritannia, advarer Gordon Brown, som selv er skotte.

The failure to defend and promote the United Kingdom is becoming more a feature of the thinking of the Right,» Mr Brown says. «In contrast to Lady Thatcher, who rightly defended the Union, Conservative writers now embrace anti-Unionist positions.

«Regrettably, an opportunist coalition of minority Nationalists and what used to be the Conservative and Unionist Party is forming around a newly fashionable but perilous orthodoxy emphasising what divides us rather than what unites.»

Mr Brown also takes the opportunity to hammer another nail in the coffin of multiculturalism, a concept embraced by Labour for years but now judged a failure.

«What was wrong about multiculturalism was not the recognition of diversity but that it over-emphasised separateness at the cost of unity,» says Mr Brown.

«Continually failing to emphasise what bound us together as a country, multiculturalism became an excuse for justifying separateness and then separateness became a tolerance of — and all too often a defence of — even greater exclusivity.»

Han får støtte av Phillips, som er født i London, men fikk sin utdannelse i Guyana.

Britain faces two great 21st century challenges.

First how we live with our planet in the face of environmental degradation; and how we live with each other against the background of social and cultural division.

A united British identity, based on the best of British values is the best defence we have against both threats.

This year we celebrate two triumphs of the best of British values. The 300th anniversary of the Union is an affirmation of our tolerance of diversity.

The bicentenary of the abolition of slavery is a reminder that fairness and equality are core beliefs of what Sir Winston Churchill called the English speaking peoples.

British values transcend race, colour and ethnicity.

Ironically, those whose own Britishness is not taken for granted are probably its strongest advocates.

Perhaps if we want to see what it truly means to be British, we should ask hard-working, Indians, Eastern Europeans, Chinese and Filipinos.

A generation ago our retail industry was revived by the commitment and cheerfulness of Asian shopkeepers; visit the City of London and you will see their sons and daughters giving bite to our finance and business sector.

Vietnamese and Eastern European families arrive barely speaking English; within two years, their children are rising to the top of the class and qualifying for our best universities.

Brown’s manifesto for Britishness

Why Britain can still be a beacon to the world
Trevor Phillips