Stuart Fairweather on an important new book about reclaiming national stories.
June 24th, exactly eight years on from Brexit, felt like an interesting time to read Another England. Caroline Lucas, who has been MP for Brighton Pavilion since 2010, leaves Westminster at this general election.
Many have noted that she has long been the lone green voice in that ever greying chamber. For this reason alone her voice is worth listening to. Her new book, which is subtitled How to Reclaim Our National Story is testimony to this.
The book's description suggests it is an important book for the English Left, it is, but it is an important book for Scotland too. Prompted by the strain that Brexit has put on the increasingly disunited kingdom we are given a relatively short read in this unsurprisingly well written book. Lucas draws heavily on her understanding of English literature to share her thoughts.
Chaucer, Shakespeare and Austen sit alongside the Chartists, Peterloo and Kinder Scout. Virginia Woolf and Zadie Smith feature too. England's canon of literature is linked to democratic reform, land taxation and basic income. Proportional representation is highlighted and republicanism noted.
As stated, Brexit is the hinge for the story that is being told. We are reminded that the politics surrounding the 2016 referendum drew on myths of Britishness. But that those in England that voted for Brexit understood themselves as English rather than British. Lucas argues the English Left says little about England, leaving this space to the Right. The UK establishment's constant intentional 'error' of conflating Britain and England compounds this problem.
Refreshingly Caroline Lucas tries to get beyond this. She says England when she means England. The book is an invitation to England's Left to re-engage with its history in attempting to construct the new. One of the stories unpacked to illustrate this is that of Robin Hood. At various times the central figure and those surrounding him have been used to advocate for radical change, ‘national' unity and for monarchy and restoration of the natural order. The point is that myths are contested.
Reading Another England in the run-up to the 2024 general election is an instructive exercise. For Lucas part of the impetus for the timing of publication was the strain that developments in Scotland and Ireland are putting on the union. The election results may have immediate implications for this but the long term motivation for the book remains worthwhile. With Scotland, Ireland and Wales increasingly exploring identity and its relationship to their politics, England is increasingly the outlier.
A Sir Starmer-led Labour government at Westminster, the House of Lords and a King do not sound like the components of a modern democracy. More so, they do not suggest an auspicious starting point for radical reform. However, Labour's ability, or otherwise, to deliver meaningful outcomes in a short space of time may leave many in England (and elsewhere in these islands) disillusioned with the so called change on offer.
An understanding of the relationships between place, people and planet are essential if alternatives to that disillusionment and its consequences are to be articulated. Caroline Lucas's book is an important contribution to understanding how we begin to do that.
Photo by Daniel Milligan: Caroline Lucas addressing a plenary session at The Break Up of Britain? conference in Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms, 18 November 2023. Review published 24 June 2024.