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MPs push bill to add 'Black English' and 'Asian English' options to England's census

16h ← 5d

Summary

  • Josh Babarinde, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastbourne, has tabled a bill to add 'Black English' and 'Asian English' options to England's census.
  • The bill has cross-party backing from David Lammy, James Cleverly and other MPs, and the prime minister has signalled support.
  • England's census offers 'English' only within the White category, unlike Scotland and Wales, which offer options such as 'Scottish Asian' and 'Black Welsh'.
  • The push is a riposte to Reform UK politicians' claims that people from minority ethnic backgrounds cannot have an English ethnic identity.
  • The bill is a 10-minute rule bill and cannot become law without the government giving it time in the Commons.
  • In 2021 David Lammy appealed to the Office for National Statistics for such options after an LBC caller denied his Englishness, and it declined.

Reactions

  • Andy Burnham said he had not studied the bill's detail but was likely to support it against what he called poisonous, dividing politics.
  • Ed Davey said at prime minister's questions that the idea only white people can be English is racist and must be rejected.
  • Josh Babarinde said he is a proud Englishman, that Englishness is about more than skin colour, and that the census has not caught up.
  • The Office for National Statistics said the evidence did not support a change to include Black English in England.
  • Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf distanced himself from Suella Braverman's view, saying the footballer Ashley Cole is English.
  • Suella Braverman said Englishness is an ethnicity and that saying so is not racist.

Timeline newest first

  1. David Lammy appealed for census options letting Black people identify as English after a 2021 LBC caller denied his Englishness; the Office for National Statistics stood firm.
  2. The Office for National Statistics recommended Black Welsh and Asian Welsh census categories, with equivalent options available in Scotland.
  3. A 2025 YouGov study found only 13% of adults in England thought someone had to be white to be English.
  4. At prime minister's questions, Ed Davey asked Andy Burnham to support Josh Babarinde's census bill, and Burnham signalled he was likely to back it.
  5. Josh Babarinde and cross-party MPs including David Lammy and James Cleverly launched a 10-minute rule bill to let census respondents of every ethnic group identify as English.
  6. The bill's backers said the current census definition left 60% of England's World Cup squad not technically classified as English.
  7. The MPs' push was a riposte to Reform UK politicians' claims that people from minority ethnic backgrounds cannot have an English ethnic identity.

Sources newest first

  • It’s absurd that ‘Black English’ is not on the census. We should be free to claim that identity if we choose | Calum Jacobstheguardian.com· 16h

    Calum Jacobs argues in a Guardian opinion column that it is absurd the census offers no "Black English" option, noting Wales and Scotland stopped conflating national identity with race, that David Lammy's 2021 LBC exchange over his Englishness prompted a failed appeal to the ONS, and that Josh Babarinde has introduced a bill to extend Englishness to all ethnic backgrounds, backed by Lammy and James Cleverly. He says people should be free to claim a Black English identity, citing a 2025 YouGov study finding only 13% of English adults think someone must be white to be English.

  • Burnham signals support for bill to make ‘Black English’ and ‘Asian English’ census optionstheguardian.com· 3d

    Andy Burnham signals likely support for a Liberal Democrat bill by Josh Babarinde that would add 'Black English' and 'Asian English' options to England's census, a cross-party riposte to Reform UK politicians' claim that minority ethnic people cannot be ethnically English. Burnham says he has not studied the bill's detail but wants to back it against what he calls poisonous, dividing politics.

  • ‘Black English’ and ‘Asian English’ should be census options, MPs saytheguardian.com· 5d

    Cross-party MPs led by the Liberal Democrat Josh Babarinde, with backing from David Lammy, James Cleverly and others, are tabling a bill to let census respondents of every ethnic group identify as English, a riposte to Suella Braverman's claim that Englishness is an ethnicity she does not share because of her south Asian heritage. The MPs say the current census, which offers English only within the White category, means most of England's World Cup squad would not technically count as English.

Background newest first

  • Cable’s confusion – on Brexit imperial “nostalgia” and what it means to be Englishopendemocracy.net· 8y

    John Denham's March 15, 2018 opendemocracy.net article argues that Brexit was driven above all by England — where those who felt most English backed Leave most strongly and those who felt British leaned Remain — rather than the imperial nostalgia Vince Cable invoked when he quoted Leave voters as nostalgic for a world of blue passports, white faces, and imperial pink. Denham calls Cable's swipe the latest proof that most Remainers would rather abuse their opponents than engage with them.