What does this mean for British identity?

[DasEnglischesWetter]

Something that I find very confusing about the UK is how much separatism such a geographically small country can have and how strong regional identities are ie Scottish, Welsh, Irish separatism.

But, at the same time Englishness existing as an intact identity is confusing. For instance, why do people in Lancashire and Essex identify with each other since they are quite far apart and have different accents/hobbies/cultural preferences etc and feel part of the same nation; or people from the North of England and South of England identify with each other despite resentment over the North being neglected and jokes between the two? Yet, many Scottish and Welsh nationalists don’t share that and want independence from the UK?

The notion of the North of England seceding is fringe unlike Scotland despite both being neglected.

What makes someone in Cheshire identify with someone in Norfolk but not identify with someone in Wales?

I know the obvious answer is that they’re all in England. But, Scotland is also in the UK and many of them don’t identify with the rest of the UK so why do people in Durham identify with the rest of England (including people in Bristol) rather than saying “we want independence because Westminster ignores us”; or “we are sick and tired of the (Southern) English exploiting us”?

What makes Northern and Southern English identify as one despite their many differences in a way that Scots don’t with the rest of UK in a British identity?

It's an odd aspect of human psychology that people will get extremely firmly, sometimes violently, attached to fairly arbitrarily defined groups or loyalties, from football teams, celebrities, royals etc, to religions, nationalities or regional identities.

I think there have been psychology experiments which divided people into groups (red vs blue or whatever) on a completely random basis, and within a very short time people became totally fixated on supporting/defending their own group and attributing all sorts of bad characteristics to the people in the other group.

Country and county divisions are based on all sorts of things. It can a matter of chance where we all were born or ended up, but society/history/media/politicians all push the idea of people within one randomly defined area having a group identity and loyalty to each other and not to the very similar people on the other side of the arbitrary line. It's not just the UK - just look at regional identities in Germany or Italy.

When you stop to think about it, it really does seem odd sometimes, doesn't it?

Different ethnic heritage - saxons & normans vs. celts
Different languages and dialects
Different social norms - have you ever lived in Scotland or Wales?
Different identity & priorities
Different tribal and family loyalties

I'm English . I'm British in terms of my passport but I know myself to be English first.

I disagree with the premise.

There are parts of England that don't identify as "English" at all such as Liverpool where people identify as Scouse first, then British, skipping "English" entirely.

History. England has been a political entity under a single government from about 900 AD.

That makes its inhabitants English. To quote the Yanks: "One nation under God". There are regional differences, as there are in all nations (OK San Marino and Andorra are possibly exceptions), but we still all English.