Britishness - a values-based approach is not enough

With Dame Liz Forgan DBE, chair, Heritage Lottery Fund

Respondents: Michael Wills MP, Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice and Bonnie Greer, writer and broadcaster.

Chair: Matthew Taylor, chief executive, RSA

To meet the challenges posed by a more mobile, less grounded society, with increased migration and devolution, the Government has set out to develop a statement of British values, backed by a legally enforceable British Bill of Rights.

Yet can a diverse society agree on a shared set of values that has any meaning? Can a fixed constitutional settlement and set of values truly reflect and keep up with a society in a rapid state of change? And can values, rights and responsibilities really describe what it means to be British when individual and collective identities are based on so much more?

After seven years of overseeing a renaissance of the UK’s heritage as chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Liz Forgan will argue that not only is a purely values-based concept of national identity too narrow to succeed, but that heritage has enormous power to bring communities together around disparate yet powerful ethnic links, provide a route into civic participation and foster a strong, inclusive national identity.

RSA Event with Heritage Lottery Fund

Download transcript of Dame Liz Forgan's speech (PDF)

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Watch Liz Forgan's lecture on RSA Vision