In 2002, Tony Blair’s Labour government launched a Life in the United Kingdom Advisory Group. Its objectives were to provide recommendations for what kind of information should be incorporated in a new ‘Life in the UK’ citizenship test and how citizenship ceremonies might be reformed.
The group was led by Bernard Crick and included academics, teachers, senior managers and consultants from across the UK. They led a national debate about ‘Britishness’ leading to a citizenship test handbook focused more on the shared principles and institutions that bring us together than an ideologically driven historical narrative setting us apart.
The UK citizenship test was launched 10 years ago in 2005. While the politics of immigration has changed much over this time, the test has not. The test’s 2007 second edition largely corrected the errors of fact that made its way into the first, such as the number of members in parliament.
My research into the coalition government’s current third edition published in 2013 exposed the test as ‘unfit for purpose’ and ‘like a bad pub quiz’. The government has bloated the handbook to 180 pages including approximately 3,000 facts covering everything from the height of the London Eye (443 feet) to who launched the UK’s first curry house (Sake Dean Mahomet) transforming the test into a pursuit of trivial trivia few British citizens could pass.
Unless you are an immigrant, it can be easily to forget the test’s importance. Over 1.2 million tests have been sat since 2005 and it has become a standard requirement not only for citizenship applications, but permanent residency applications too.
The problem is there has never been a review a decade later with no consultation with the public or migrants about how policies can be reformed. This has meant serious problems with the content and format of the test and its handbook have gone unnoticed. This has happened because they have been drafted by individuals that often lack first-hand experience of immigrating to the UK or any other country and so in a disadvantaged position to determine what should be included and how it should be organised.
It is time to relaunch a Life in the UK Advisory Group. Much has changed over the last 10 years and not least public perceptions and attitudes to migration. We must ask fundamental questions about why a citizenship test is important and whether it should serve as a barrier or a bridge to becoming British.
It is key that this fundamental review consider anew public feedback through reengagement. It is wrong that this conversation has been put on hold for so long. Furthermore, it is essential that the voices of naturalised UK citizens are heard. It is policymaking at its worst to revise a test from time to time without once considering evidence for its effectiveness. And those of us like me who successfully went through the naturalisation process are in an excellent position to contribute.
It is also another important policy innovation led Blair’s Labour government – now an embedded fixture in immigration policy – that is too often overlooked. Labour can trumpet its leadership on immigration control policies that are fair. One place to start is a commitment to revise and relaunch the UK citizenship test that we created.
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Thom Brooks is professor of law and government at Durham University. He tweets @thom_brooks