Key facts
- Burnham said he had not looked at the detail of the bill but would want to support it.
- The bill was drawn up by Josh Babarinde, the Liberal Democrat president, with cross-party backing.
- Backers named include David Lammy and James Cleverly, the Conservative former foreign secretary.
- A 10-minute rule bill would not get parliamentary time without the government giving it time in the Commons.
- England's census offers English only within the White category; Scotland and Wales offer options such as Scottish Asian and Black Welsh.
Andy Burnham said at prime minister's questions on November 11, 2026 that he would want to support a Liberal Democrat bill that would let people describe themselves as Black English or Asian English in the census for England, while noting he had not looked at the bill's detail.
The bill was drawn up by Josh Babarinde, the Liberal Democrat president and MP for Eastbourne, with backing from a cross-party mix of MPs including David Lammy, a former Labour deputy prime minister, and James Cleverly, the Conservative former foreign secretary. The push is a riposte to Reform UK politicians such as Suella Braverman who have claimed that people from minority ethnic backgrounds cannot have English ethnic identity.
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, told the Commons that some MPs had "shamefully" argued for what he called the racist idea that only white people can be English. He said the Conservative leader had rejected that idea "to her great credit" and that the change should start with the census, where the only English option for ethnicity is White English.
Burnham replied that he also praised Kemi Badenoch for rejecting an ethnic basis for Englishness, saying some issues should rise above party politics. He said he stood there thinking he would want to support the bill "to directly take on the poisonous politics" he said some in the house were pursuing, and that he was interested in working with anyone who shares that aim.
Babarinde's bill is a 10-minute rule bill, which would not get parliamentary time and so has no chance of becoming law without the government giving it time in the Commons. In England the census ethnic group question offers English only within the White category, although about 11% of the UK-born population in England and Wales are from a minority ethnic background. Asian, black, mixed and other respondents can describe themselves as British, for example Asian or Asian British, but have no option to describe themselves as English. The censuses in Scotland and Wales offer options such as Scottish Asian and Black Welsh.
Babarinde told the Guardian earlier this week that the current definition meant 60% of England's World Cup squad would not technically be classified as English on the census. He said Englishness is about more than the colour of your skin and that most people in the country already agree you do not have to be white to be English.