Andy Burnham has signalled his support for dedicated options at the next census to allow people to define themselves as black English or Asian English. It comes after Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde called for legislation to widen ethnicity options for respondents at the next population count, due in 2031. The last census, held in 2021, saw English offered within a broader white category, but without specific options for black English or Asian English. Asked at Prime Minister’s Questions whether he would support Babarinde’s proposal, Burnham said he had not seen details of the plan.
But he added: “I stand here thinking that I would want to support that bill, to directly take on the poisonous politics we’ve seen from some in this House”. “We must bring people back together. I am interested in working with anyone in this House who shares that aim,” he added. Burnham did not respond to a follow-up question from Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey about whether he would meet Babarinde to discuss his plan, and he did not specify whether the government would give it time for debate in Parliament.
Babarinde introduced his proposal for legislation on Tuesday, under a rule that allows MPs to propose new laws in a 10-minute speech. Such draft laws, known as private members’ bills, rarely become law without support from the government of the day but are often used by MPs to raise awareness of issues and generate media attention for policy ideas. Census should include black English and Asian English options, says MP Respondents to the 2021 census were asked a two-stage question about ethnicity, with options grouped under five broad ethnic headings. In Wales, the terms “Asian Welsh” and “Black Welsh” were listed in the broad categories themselves, and respondents were able to pick “Welsh” as an option underneath the broader white category.
The form in England listed “English” as an option in the white ethnic category, but the only way for respondents to describe themselves as Black English or Black English was via a free-form text box. In Scotland, the term “Scottish Asian” appeared in the broad categories, whilst “Black Scottish” was given as an example response for the text box. Speaking on Tuesday, Babarinde said his proposed law would introduce Black English and Asian English as specific new categories, arguing that the text box on the current form “may as well be the margin”. Babarinde’s proposal has been backed by some MPs in other parties, including Labour former deputy prime minister David Lammy and Conservative Sir James Cleverly, who quit the shadow cabinet this summer to run for London mayor.
The Eastbourne MP has previously told the BBC he put forward his bill in the wake of comments by former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman, who defected to Reform UK earlier this year. Braverman wrote in 2015, external that she was British Asian but said she “cannot claim to be English” despite being born and educated in England. She has reaffirmed her position in recent weeks, writing on X that Englishness was “an ethnicity” and it was “not racist to say this”. “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 added. The detailed questions asked during the census in England and Wales are set out in legislation following recommendations from the Office of National Statistics. The law setting out the questions for the last census was passed around 10 months before it took place in March 2021. The Scottish government delayed the census in Scotland until the following year because of the Covid pandemic.
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