Anti-English sentiment or Anglophobia (from Latin Anglus "English" and Greek φόβος, phobos, "fear") means opposition to, dislike of, fear of, or hatred towards England or English people.[1] The term is sometimes used more loosely for general anti-British sentiment.[1] Its opposite is Anglophilia.

Within the United Kingdom

In his essay "Notes on Nationalism", written in May 1945 and published in the first issue of the intellectual magazine Polemic (October 1945), George Orwell wrote that "Welsh, Irish and Scottish nationalism have points of difference but are alike in their anti-English orientation".[2]


In a 2017 survey of 500 English people living in Scotland, said that they had been harassed or discriminated against by Scottish people.

A 2005 study by Hussain and Millar of the Department of Politics at the University of Glasgow examined the prevalence of Anglophobia in relation to Islamophobia in Scotland. One finding of the report suggested that national "phobias" have common roots independent of the nations they are directed toward. The study states that:

Scottish identity comes close to rivalling low levels of education as an influence towards Anglophobia. Beyond that, having an English friend reduces Anglophobia by about as much as having a Muslim friend reduces Islamophobia. And lack of knowledge about Islam probably indicates a broader rejection of the ‘other’, for it has as much impact on Anglophobia as on Islamophobia.[3]

The study goes on to say (of the English living in Scotland): "Few of the English (only 16 percent) see conflict between Scots and English as even 'fairly serious'." Hussain and Millar's study found that Anglophobia was slightly less prevalent than Islamophobia, but that unlike Islamophobia, Anglophobia correlated with a strong sense of Scottish identity.

In 1999 an inspector and race relations officer with Lothian and Borders Police said that a correlation had been noticed between the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and anti-English incidents.[4] However, Hussain and Millar's research suggested that Anglophobia had fallen slightly since the introduction of devolution.

In 2009, a woman originally from England was assaulted in an allegedly anti-English racially motivated attack.[5] Similar cases have been connected with major football matches and tournaments, particularly international tournaments where the English and Scottish football teams often compete with each other.[6][7][8] A spate of anti-English attacks occurred in 2006 during the football World Cup.[9] In one incident a 7-year-old boy wearing an England shirt was punched in the head in an Edinburgh park.[10]


The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542, also known as the "Acts of Union", passed by the Parliament of England, annexed Wales to the Kingdom of England, and replaced the Welsh language and Welsh law with the English language and English law.[11][12] In particular, Section 20 of the 1535 Act made English the only language of the law courts and stated that those who used Welsh would not be appointed to any public office in Wales.[11] The Welsh language was supplanted in many public spheres, with, for example, the use of the Welsh Not in some schools. This would later be adopted as a symbol of English oppression. [13]

Since the Glyndŵr Rising of the early 15th century, Welsh nationalism has been primarily nonviolent.[14] However, the Welsh militant group Meibion Glyndŵr (English: Sons of (Owain) Glyndŵr) were responsible for arson attacks on English-owned second homes in Wales from 1979–1994, motivated by cultural anti-English sentiment.[14] Meibion Glyndŵr also attempted arson against several estate agents in Wales and England, and against the offices of the Conservative Party in London.[15][15][16]

In 2000, the Chairman of Swansea Bay Race Equality Council said that "Devolution has brought a definite increase in anti-English behaviour," citing three women who believed that they were being discriminated against in their careers because they could not speak Welsh.[17] In 2001 Dafydd Elis-Thomas, a former leader of Plaid Cymru, said that there was an anti-English strand to Welsh nationalism.[18]

Northern Ireland

During the Troubles, the IRA mainly attacked targets in Northern Ireland and England, not Scotland or Wales,[19] although the IRA planted a bomb at Sullom Voe Terminal in Shetland during a visit by the Queen in May 1981.[20] However, the ancestry of most people in the Loyalist and Unionist communities is Scottish rather than English.[citation needed]

In the Protestant community, the English are identified with British politicians, and are sometimes resented for their perceived abandonment of loyalist communities.[21]