Census should include black English and Asian English options, says MP

The next census should include more ethnicity options to allow people to define themselves as black English or Asian English, according to a group of MPs.

Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde told the BBC that "most people" in the country believe "you don't have to be white to be English", as he called for the categories to be updated in a similar way to changes in Wales and Scotland.

At the 2021 census, the ethnic group section saw English offered only within the white category.

Babarinde's proposal, dubbed the "St George's Bill", aims to broaden the options and its supporters include Labour's David Lammy and Conservative Sir James Cleverly. It was tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

In his speech to introduce his private member's bill (PMB), Babarinde told MPs he is a "proud Englishman" and has "proud Nigerian heritage".

He said: "But my parents and I were born in England, we grew up in England, our home is in England, yet some voices attempt to reduce Englishness to a skin colour and to a bloodline.

"Well, if we're going to go down that path, my mum's side of the family has been English for as far back as we have traced."

The Eastbourne MP said he had received "death threats for daring to say that you don't have to be white to be English".

He added "English ethnicity is real" before arguing it is a "matter of historical fact that it has never been one bloodline" and "even our Royal Family has German roots".

"Is the King not English either, I ask."

Addressing the ethnicity section of the census, Babarinde said the "only box that says English sits under the white category".

He added: "If you are black, the form offers you black British, if you are Asian, it offers you Asian British, but not English.

"Now, the same question in the Welsh census offers a black Welsh category. In Scotland, the census offers Scottish Asian, for example.

"Yet the best that England offers in our census is a miscellaneous write-in box that may as well be the margin."

Lammy, a former deputy prime minister, said in a statement: "It is quite absurd that neither I or my mixed heritage children can describe themselves as black or mixed race and English on our census form.

"I have long campaigned for us to change to the position enjoyed by others in Wales and Scotland. We have to end this backward racial gatekeeping."

Babarinde told the BBC he had brought forward the PMB because there were "some corners of our politics who are attempting to gatekeep Englishness for people who are a particular colour".

He also said there are "people like Suella Braverman who have really undermined and questioned the Englishness of people like me".

In 2025, Braverman - then a Conservative MP before her defection to Reform UK - wrote in the Daily Telegraph, external that she was British Asian but said she "cannot claim to be English" despite being born and educated in England.

In recent weeks, Braverman has reaffirmed her position and wrote on X, external: "To say I'm English is to take a 'laissez-faire, anything-goes' attitude to ethnicity, citizenship and identity. It also denies me my Asian heritage."

She also said "Englishness is an ethnicity", adding: "There have been English people for centuries and we need to recognise this more if we are to start taking a more muscular approach to citizenship and nationality. And no, it's not racist to say this."

Babarinde introduced his PMB to the Commons using the 10-minute rule process.

This gave him up to 10 minutes to make the case for why he wanted to introduce his PMB.

No MP took up the option to make a 10-minute speech opposing it.

Babarinde asked for his PMB, formally known as the English Ethnic Identity (census particulars) Bill, to return to the Commons on 23 April 2027 - St George's Day - for its second reading debate.

But it is unlikely to be considered further in its current form due to a lack of parliamentary time.

PMBs allow MPs to raise issues they believe ministers should be considering and to develop campaigns showing the strength of support for their ideas.