Burnham backs black English and Asian English options on census

Rhiannon James, Press Association Parliamentary Editor and Nation Cymru staff

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled he will support a bid to allow Britons to identify as black English and Asian English on the census, in line with the census in Wales and Scotland.

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

Pressed on whether he would back an attempt to broaden the range of options on the census, Mr Burnham said he would, “to directly take on the poisonous politics”.

Draft legislation had been introduced by Liberal Democrat Josh Babarinde, who argued the current situation treats English people with black and Asian heritage as “marginal”.

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.”

It comes after Reform UK MP Suella Braverman (Fareham and Waterlooville) sparked a row over racism last month when she suggested only white people can be English.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey asked Mr Burnham directly whether he would support the English Ethnic Identity (Census Particulars) Bill.

He replied: “I haven’t looked at the detail of the Bill, but I stand here thinking that I would want to support that Bill to directly take on the poisonous politics that we’ve seen from some in this House who are seeking to divide us.

“We must move on from a decade of division and drift in this country, we must bring people back together. I am interested in working with anyone in this House who shares that aim.”

Sir Ed had earlier told the Commons: “Our politics is being affected by poisonous ideas, like the idea that people born and raised in England can’t be English because they’re not white.

“Shamefully, even some in this House have argued for this racist ideology. We must reject it, as the Conservative leader (Kemi Badenoch), to her great credit, has done.

“We should start with the census, where the only English option, when you’re asked about your ethnicity, is white English.”

Mr Babarinde presented the 10-minute rule Bill to the Commons on Tuesday. It has received cross-party support, including from Labour’s former deputy prime minister David Lammy, but will need Government backing to progress.

The MP for Eastbourne said there have been attempts to “reduce Englishness to a skin colour and to a bloodline”, as he argued the Bill takes “nothing away from anyone,” only adding choices that reflect how people already see themselves.