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PRANKSTERS will be free to declare themselves Jedi or witches in the 2011 census.

Joke answers are officially unacceptable but organisers are powerless to act because the question on religion is voluntary.

Glen Watson, census director at the Office for National Statistics, said yesterday: “We would process the ­information and include it in the results, I imagine.

“If people want to express their religious affiliation, it’s in their rights to do so.”

Some 400,000 named the Star Wars movement as their religion in the last census but a bigger stunt is expected this time.

This year’s questionnaire features enquiries about recent migration for the first time, but none on sexuality. People who fail to complete it can be fined up to £1,000.