The rise of Englishness is a threat to democracy, a Birmingham MP has warned.

Gisela Stuart (Lab Edgbaston) said she was worried by the number of constituents who now claimed to be English rather than British.

The German-born MP said Britishness was based on loyalty to institutions such as Parliament, making it easier for immigrants to be included.

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Ms Stuart also warned that Britain's democratic institutions were being undermined by the European Union.

Last night a spokesman for the Campaign for an English Speaking Parliament said: "It may be true that people feel more English than in the past - but that's a good thing.

"We want a fair deal for all the people of England, regardless of their background. That includes Gisela Stuart."

In an article for online magazine openDemocracy.net, Ms Stuart said she had noticed a rise of English feeling over the past five years.

It followed the creation of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, giving the Scots and the Welsh control over a range of policies including health and education.

English policy continues to be decided by the British Government in Westminster, led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - both Scots.

Ministers have attempted to promote a sense of Britishness, and Mr Brown is to host a seminar on what it means to be British, on November 28 in London.

Participants will include Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality; Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council, and former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.

But Ms Stuart said: "It has only been in the last five years or so that I have heard people in my constituency telling me 'I am not British - I am English'. That worries me.

"British identity is based on and anchored in its political and legal institutions and this enables it to take in new entrants more easily than it would be if being a member of a nation were to be defined by blood.

"But a democratic polity will only work if citizens' identification is with the community as a whole, or at least with the shared process, which overrides their loyalty to a segment."

She felt British, she said. "I am a Member of Parliament for Birmingham in England's West Midlands. I was born in Germany and came to this country over 30 years ago.

"I represent some 70,000 voters who are proud of the fact that they don't have to be born a Brummie, but can choose to be a Brummie.

"They understand it when I describe myself as German by birth, but British by choice. At election time when I am attacked for being German, my vote goes up."

Ms Stuart warned that the transfer of powers to the European Union was undermining Britishness and encouraging people to seek "a narrower base of loyalty".

She said: "For the vast majority of people the nation-state is and remains the unit of identification.

"If we try to move beyond it, people do not widen their horizon, but draw back into a narrower base of loyalty that makes extremist views offering simple certainties more attractive.

"People identify with their own country's institutions. MPs swear loyalty to the Crown in Parliament."