Publisher's Synopsis
This book argues that the United Kingdom is a failed and failing state, and sets out an alternative political identity, political economy and constitutional future for England. Ending the conflation of England, Englishness and the interests of the people of England with those of Britain, Britishness and the interests of the United Kingdom, Lee sets out the case for an independent and self-governing England. Focusing upon the period from 1975 until the present day, Lee demonstrates how successive British modernization programmes implemented by governments led by Prime Ministers from Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron have ill served the people of England, failed to deliver a sustainable standard of living, and left a legacy of record public and private debt, increasing inequality and declining social mobility. He also shows how the idea of entrepreneur-led social change in England embraced by the British power elite and developmental state has instead nurtured a corporate welfare dependency culture.
