British identity in question

LONDON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The recent debates over Scotland's future are leading to a backlash against "Britishness," a report published Monday revealed.

The Institute of Public Policy Research report suggests English voters think of themselves more as English than British when it comes to their personal identity, as Scotland makes plans to alter its Constitution to include more autonomy, the newspaper The Scotsman reported.

An estimated 80 percent of English people, the policy report said, support full fiscal autonomy for Scotland, known as "devolution-max," in which all taxes levied in Scotland would remain there. Scotland would then pay England for shared services.

The drive toward a referendum on Scottish independence is meeting with political controversy, a growing resentment of Scotland and a feeling, expressed in a 2007 institute report, that governance in Britain is growing worse because of it.