National Conversation project launches as Britain risks ‘being torn apart by differences’

Sajid Javid has warned the country risks “being torn apart by our differences” as figures from across public life launch a project that asks what it means to be British.The Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, co-chaired by the former Conservative chancellor as well as the former Labour party policy chief Jon Cruddas, is urging the public to share their personal vision of their community and their country in the National Conversation project.The commission includes the human rights and counter-extremism activist Sara Khan, the former West Midlands mayor Andy Street, Laura Marks, the chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the former Green party leader Caroline Lucas, and the activist Tim Montgomerie, of Reform UK.Convened by the Together Coalition – the nonprofit cohesion campaign co-founded by Brendan Cox, the widower of the murdered MP Jo Cox – the commission aims to use the project to map out a shared vision for the future amid the fraught and fractured political climate.Questions at the heart of the National Conversation project include what it means to be British, English, Scottish or Welsh. The research aims to determine what unites and divides the public, what connects us to our neighbours, and what makes the country feel like home.‘I’m a great believer in the wisdom of the public,’ said Sajid Javid. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The GuardianJavid said: “Our country is in real peril. Unless we can regain a shared sense of what unites us – of what we have in common – we risk being torn apart by our differences.“That vision won’t come from politicians – it can only come from the public. I’m a great believer in the wisdom of the public – we hope this conversation gives that wisdom voice.”Members of the public are asked to compete a 10-minute survey to take part in the National Conversation, filling in details about their neighbourhood before leaving a 60-second voice note detailing their vision for the future.Meanwhile, thousands of small group discussions set up by partner organisations will take place across the country.Melinda Mills, a professor of demography at Oxford’s Nuffield College and the director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, which has designed the survey, said AI had “revolutionised” the ability to conduct mass listening exercises. The voice notes left by the public would be analysed for “the language people choose, the emotional register, the texture of how they actually talk about their communities”, she added.Polling from the British Red Cross last month found three-quarters of UK adults (75%) believe Britain is divided as a country and (72%) say the country has become more divided over the last five years.‘Rebuilding Britain’s social fabric and sense of community has never been more urgent,’ said Jon Cruddas. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The GuardianA report will be published later this year combining public insight with academic research, expert testimony and commissioners’ deliberation. Previous exercises conducted by the commission have taken evidence on housing, education, the economy and trust, taking evidence from people including the Tory peer Michael Gove, the historian Mary Beard, the former director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson, and the former prime minister David Cameron.Cruddas said: “Rebuilding Britain’s social fabric and sense of community has never been more urgent. But the answers to this don’t lie in Westminster. They lie in communities up and down the country. That’s why the National Conversation is at the heart of how we rebuild a shared vision of our country.”James Graham, the playwright who wrote Dear England, the stage portrayal of the former England football manager Gareth Southgate, helped advise on the design of the project. He said he hoped the initiative would be “the first serious attempt” to set out a shared national vision “in a political climate that often seeks to divide us”.The National Conversation runs from 18 May until the end of August. To take part visit https://www.thenationalconversation.org.uk/