Britishness is the state or quality of being British,[2][3] or of embodying British characteristics,[3] and is used to refer to that which binds

and distinguishes the British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity,[4] or else to explain expressions of British culturesuch as habits, beha iours or symbolsthat ha e a common, familiar or iconic quality readily identifiable with the !nited "ingdom#[$] %ialogue about the legitimacy and authenticity of Britishness is intrinsically tied with power relations and politics&['] in terms of nationhood and belonging, expressing or recognising one(s Britishness pro o)es a range of responses and attitudes, such as ad ocacy, indifference or re*ection#['] +acphee and ,oddar state that although the designation of the two differing terms, Britishness and -nglishness, is not simple as they are in ariably conflated, they are both tied into the identity of the British nation and empire, since these last two are altering considerably as -nglishness and Britishness do too# .hus the slippage between the two words can be seen as a play between these changing dynamics#[/] Britishness 0sprung into political and academic prominence0 in the late122th century,[3] but its origins lie with the formation of the "ingdom of 4reat Britain in 5/2/# 6lthough Britishness was used to refer to Britons collecti ely as early as 5'32,[3] historian 7inda 8olley asserts that it was after the 6cts of !nion 5/2/ that the citi9ens of 4reat Britain began to assume a 0layered0 identity to thin) of themsel es as simultaneously British but also :cottish, -nglish, and;or <elsh#[=] >n this formati e period, Britishness was 0closely bound up with ,rotestantism0#[=] .he Oxford English Dictionary Online dates the first )nown use of the term Britishness to refer to the state of being British to a ?une 53$/ issue of Putnam's Monthly Magazine#[3] :ince the late122th century, the exploration and proliferation of Britishness became directly associated with a desire to define, sustain or restore a homogeneous British identity or allegiance to Britain, prompting debate# @or instance, the 7ife in the !nited "ingdom testreported as a test of one(s Britishnesshas been described as contro ersial#[52] .he !nited "ingdom >ndependence ,arty ha e asserted that Britishness is tied with inclusi e ci ic nationalism,[55] whereas the 8ommission for Aacial -quality reported that, :cots, <elsh, >rish and ethnic minorities may feel quite di orced from Britishness because of <hite, -nglish dominance& 4wynfor - ans, <elsh nationalist politician, said that 0Britishness is a political synonym for -nglishness which extends -nglish culture o er the :cots, <elsh and the >rish0#[52] <ith regards to a proposed Bath of 6llegiance for school lea ers, historian %a id :tar)ey argued that it is impossible to teach Britishness because 0a British nation doesn(t exist#0[53][54] >n 222/, the ma*ority of people in many non1white ethnic groups li ing in 4reat Britain described their national identity as British# .his included almost nine in ten C3/DE of people with mixed heritage, 3$D of Blac) 8aribbeans, and 32D of ,a)istanis and Bangladeshis# Fon1whites were more li)ely to describe themsel es as British than whites# Bne1third of people from the <hite British group described themsel es as British& the remaining two third of respondents identified themsel es as -nglish, <elsh or :cottish#[25] 6 study conducted for the 8ommission for Aacial -quality C8A-E in 222$ found that, in -ngland, the ma*ority of ethnic minority participants identified primarily as British, whereas white -nglish participants identified as -nglish first and British second# >n <ales and :cotland, the ma*ority of both white and ethnic minority participants identified as <elsh or :cottish first and British second, although they saw no incompatibility between the two identities#[22] Bther research conducted for the 8A- found that white participants felt that there was a threat to Britishness from large1scale immigration, the (unfair( claims that they percei ed ethnic minorities made on the welfare state, a rise in moral pluralism and political correctness# +uch of this frustration was found to be targeted at +uslims rather than minorities in general# +uslim participants in the study reported feeling ictimised and stated that they felt that they were being as)ed to choose between +uslim and British identities, whereas they saw it possible to be both at the same time#[22