A cross-party group of MPs is pushing for the census to let people of every ethnic background describe themselves as English, with options such as Black English and Asian English.

The proposal is led by Liberal Democrat president Josh Babarinde, the MP for Eastbourne. It was reported by The Guardian on Monday, 9 November 2026, and a Ten Minute Rule motion on English ethnic identity and census particulars was listed for the House of Commons on Tuesday, 10 November.

What the MPs want to change

At present, the English tick box in the census ethnic-group question appears only under the White category. Babarinde's proposal would add English identification across the ethnic-group categories, so respondents could describe themselves as Black English, Asian English, Mixed English or similar combinations.

Writing about the plan, Babarinde asked: "Do you have to be White to be English? I say no." He said his St George's Bill would let non-white people identify as ethnically English in the census.

Named supporters of the proposal include former deputy prime minister David Lammy, former foreign secretary James Cleverly, Conservative MPs Mark Pritchard and Ben Obese-Jecty, Liberal Democrats Layla Moran and Munira Wilson, and Labour MP Adam Jogee.

How a Ten Minute Rule Bill works

A Ten Minute Rule Bill is a parliamentary route for an MP to seek permission to introduce proposed legislation and to raise an issue in the Commons. The MP speaks for up to ten minutes in support of the bill, and the House then decides whether to allow it to be introduced.

Such bills rarely become law. A presentation, expressions of support and eventual enactment are different stages, and the census is not changed simply because MPs have announced an initiative. Further stages, consultation and technical review by the Office for National Statistics would be needed before any change to census forms.

What the census already records

Since 2011 the census form has carried a national identity question, asked before the ethnic-group question, in which anyone of any background can tick English. The ethnic-group question already offered "English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British" as a sub-option under White, and every other heading had a write-in box.

That means a Black person born in Eastbourne can already record themselves as English by national identity and Black by ethnicity, or write "Black English" in the write-in box. What the bill asks for is a printed label combining the two, rather than permission to record the identity at all.

Why the debate matters

The proposal has already prompted heated debate about who can claim English identity and how the country counts its population. Supporters say the current form sends a message that Englishness belongs only to white people, and that the census should reflect how people actually see themselves.

Critics of the approach argue that the census is a statistical exercise, not a statement of belonging, and that tick boxes arrive only after the Office for National Statistics has consulted and tested wording with real households. They also point out that changing the Schedule to the Census Act 1920 would set topics for the census, while the boxes themselves are settled later through the Census Order and Regulations.

The motion was listed as the Ten Minute Rule business for Tuesday, 10 November, ahead of the second reading of the Financial Services and Markets Bill. No vote, passage or change to census rules follows from the motion itself.

The Guardian first reported the plan, and Kalkine reported the motion's listing for 10 November.