National Conversation project launches as Britain risks ‘being torn apart by differences’

Sajid Javid has warned the country risks “being torn apart by our differences” as figures from across public life launch a project that asks what it means to be British. The Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, co-chaired by the former Conservative chancellor as well as the former Labour party policy chief Jon Cruddas , is urging the public to share their personal vision of their community and their country in the National Conversation project. The commission includes the human rights and counter-extremism activist Sara Khan , the former West Midlands mayor Andy Street , Laura Marks , the chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the former Green party leader Caroline Lucas, and the activist Tim Montgomerie, of Reform UK. Convened by the Together Coalition – the nonprofit cohesion campaign co-founded by Brendan Cox, the widower of the murdered MP Jo Cox – the commission aims to use the project to map out a shared vision for the future amid the fraught and fractured political climate. Questions at the heart of the National Conversation project include what it means to be British, English, Scottish or Welsh. The research aims to determine what unites and divides the public, what connects us to our neighbours, and what makes the country feel like home. ‘I’m a great believer in the wisdom of the public,’ said Sajid Javid. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Guardian Javid said: “Our country is in real peril. …