November 13, 2025 - 7:00am
Ethnic-minority Britons are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to think that being white is necessary to be considered English, according to a new survey.
When asked about the single attribute that make someone English, YouGov found that only 10% of white Britons believe being white is a requirement — compared with 24% of ethnic-minority Britons. Just 9% of white respondents said both family heritage and whiteness are necessary, while more than twice as many ethnic-minority Britons (21%) agreed. And when Englishness was framed as a mix of whiteness, family heritage and Christian values, only 4% of white Britons born in the UK endorsed that view, along with 5% of ethnic-minority Britons born in the UK.
These findings come amid renewed debates over what it means to be British and English. Last month, Conservative MP Robert Jenrick called the Handsworth area of Birmingham “one of the worst-integrated places” he had ever seen, noting that he did not see “another white face” in the 90 minutes he was there. In response to the Shadow Justice Secretary’s comments, a Handsworth resident told the BBC: “You don’t have to be white to be English.”
In contrast, survey respondents had a much broader conception of what it means to be British, with fewer people from all groups thinking whiteness, family heritage or Christian values are necessary for Britishness. In February this year, Conservative MP Suella Braverman wrote in the Telegraph that while she is “a proud British Asian”, she is not English. “I don’t feel English,” she argued, “because I have no generational ties to English soil, no ancestral stories tied to the towns or villages of this land.” Former prime minister Rishi Sunak then disagreed with this definition of Englishness, saying: “of course I’m English.”
According to the survey, 24% of white adults born in the UK think that family heritage is necessary to be considered British, considerably less than the 33% who think this is required for Englishness. The figure is again lower for ethnic-minority Britons born in the UK (10%) and ethnic-minority adults not born in the UK (9%). Just 6% of white Britons think a combination of being white and having family heritage is necessary for being British. This falls to 3% of ethnic-minority Brits born in the UK and 1% of ethnic minorities born outside the UK.
The survey also found that ethnic-minority Britons in England are more likely than their white counterparts to have a stronger British identity than English identity. Only 10% of white English respondents said they are “more British than English”, while 19% of ethnic-minority British-born respondents said they feel more British.
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