Andy Burnham has signalled support (Image: Getty)
Britons should have a broader range of options on the census to allow themselves to be defined as both Black and English, a Liberal Democrat MP has said. Josh Babarinde said there have been attempts to “reduce Englishness to a skin colour and to a bloodline” but argued that being white has nothing to do with being English.
Introducing the English ethnic identity (census particulars) Bill to the Commons, Mr Babarinde called for ethnicity questions on the census to be overhauled with more options, including Black English and Asian English. It comes after Reform UK MP Suella Braverman (Fareham and Waterlooville) sparked a row over racism when she suggested only white people can be English.
Addressing MPs on Tuesday, Mr Babarinde argued the current situation treats English people with Black and Asian heritage as “marginal”, including Conservative former prime minister Rishi Sunak.
The 10-minute rule Bill, which is unlikely to proceed without Government backing, has received cross-party support, including from Labour’s former deputy prime minister David Lammy.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has also appeared to back the bill. He said in Parliament: “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.”
Mr Babarinde also called it the St George’s Bill, named after the patron saint of England who, according to tradition, was from modern-day Turkey.
The Eastbourne MP said: “Do you have to be white to be English? This St George’s Bill says no.
“I am a proud Englishman. I have proud Nigerian heritage.
“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.”
He told MPs that since introducing the Bill, he has received death threats, with one telling him to “go home while you have the legs and breath to carry you”.
He said: “In the ethnicity question in the census, the only box that says English sits under the white category.
“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 writing box that may as well be the margin.
“But is (Rishi Sunak) a former prime minister, only marginal to our country? Is (David Lammy) a former deputy prime minister and co-sponsor of this Bill only marginal to our country? What about Ian Wright, Lewis Hamilton, Cynthia Erivo?”
The Lib Dem MP argued the Bill takes “nothing away from anyone,” only adding choices that reflect how people already see themselves.
It is due to return to the Commons on April 23, 2027 – St George’s Day.
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