A Dis-United Kingdom? An examination of elite discourse constituting the nation and national community in contemporary Great Britain

This thesis, using discourse-historical analysis, examines how the nation and national community are constructed by political and media elites in Great Britain and specifically how this is reflected in discourses about migration. While England, Wales, and Scotland ('Great Britain') are seen as the more united countries of the United Kingdom in contrast to the relationship between the UK Government and Northern Ireland, Great Britain too can be 'dis-united.' Within Great Britain, there are different and competing constructions of the nation(s) that are promoted by diverse elites within it.

Nationalist movements in Wales and Scotland, including the Scottish Nationalist Party and Plaid Cymru, have long challenged the idea of the United Kingdom. Each stresses their nation is unique and has a right to autonomy, if not independence. At the same time, in England (and across Britain), the Conservative and Labour Parties actively promote a 'British' identity, claiming that a British nation-state exists. What that nation is, and who it includes, is clearly contested by political actors.

Migration foregrounds key questions about who the nation includes, asking who belongs and who should be excluded. Migration legislation attempts to impose a migrant-citizen legal binary, with those without citizenship excluded from certain privileges and rights. Yet, this binary does not neatly capture belonging in the national community, which is dependent on numerous other factors, including class, gender, and race. With migration and citizenship increasingly politicised, who the national community consists of and who can join it, is also contested by various significant actors.

I consider three case studies - Kenmure Street in Scotland in May 2021; Knowsley in England in February 2023 and Penally in Wales 2020 - in which conflict over migration has intersected with diverse constructions of the nation. I examine political discourse (from contexts including interviews and political speeches) about these case studies from the event itself to the present day, conducting discourse-historical analysis, to examine how the nation is differently constituted in relation to concerns about migration.