Broadcaster and commentator Gavin Esler looks at the constitutional, federal arrangements which might prevent the disintegration of the British state.

For years the British state has been what Esler calls a ‘secret federation’, but without the explicit federal arrangements that allow Germany or the US to survive. This state, which does not have a written constitution, is now coming under great strain. The pressures to declare Scottish independence and to push for a border poll that would unite Ireland may become irresistible.

Can England and Wales ‒ where support for independence is growing ‒ find a way of dealing with the state’s new place in the world?

Gavin Esler’s How Britain Ends: English Nationalism and the Rebirth of Four Nations is published by Head of Zeus. Buy a copy from Waterstones, our bookselling partners.

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Festival of Ideas: Gavin Esler, Are We Seeing the Break-Up of Britain?