Despite almost continuous administrative reconfigurations of England by successive UK governments implementing various British nationalist programmes for political, economic and social renewal, there remains no clear vision for the future governance of England. There has been little, if no, engagement with the notions of English identity and England as a nation and a positive case for devolution for England, based on a vision of what England and the English stand for, has not been forthcoming. Simon Lee seeks to address these laments by putting forward a moral vision of England as a political community, based upon a civic nationalism and national identity rooted in the principles of democratic political culture and citizenship.

He offers an alternative to the political visions for England based upon the reactionary English nationalism of Enoch Powell, or the elegies to a lost England of Roger Scruton, as well as Tory visions based on notions of “world-beating” British exceptionalism, and ideas of a "New Britain" from the Left based upon a "nations and regions" agenda. In doing so, the book considers some fundamental questions: how England should be governed, nationally and locally; what form its political economy should take, in terms of a written constitution of laws, legislation, policies and regulation to govern its economy, society and environment; and how England’s national and plural local identities should be defined, given voice and represented.

Simon Lee is Senior Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Studies, University of Hull. His books include Boom and Bust: The Politics and Legacy of Gordon Brown (2009).