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A minister faced "humiliation" after she was challenged to answer questions from a Government test intended for people trying to gain British citizenship.

Home Office minister Baroness Susan Williams of Trafford admitted the Government's Life in the UK test may ask questions which are "not relevant" to life in the UK after she struggled to answer some of them.

In a good-natured exchange in the House of Lords, Labour peer Lord Alfred Dubs challenged her to answer some of the questions from the test.

He said: "There are a number of questions which are supposed to be relevant to life in Britain. Can I just try her out on one?"

Lord Dubs asked Baroness Williams when the Giant's Causeway was formed, and whether she knew when King Henry VIII died.

(Image: UK Parliament) (Image: Getty Images)

Baroness Williams said: "The noble Lord, who is actually my noble friend, has actually issued me with a double humiliation because, as someone whose father is from Northern Ireland, I am absolutely ashamed that I can't answer the question."

Despite successfully guessing when the Giant's Causeway was formed, which she put down to the "luck of the Irish", Baroness Williams admitted she had "no idea" when Henry VIII had died.

She said: "I think there have been points about the Life in the UK test about, really, how much detail and how much knowledge we are expecting people to have, so I take your point."

(Image: UK Parliament)

Labour peer Lord David Blunkett urged the Government to take an "urgent look" at making the test more "relevant, sensible and usable for people gaining citizenship in the UK".

Baroness Williams said: "We've all been educated this morning, not least myself.

"But I sort of was thinking about the analogy with Trivial Pursuit. Maybe if the same questions have been in play for a number of years, it may be an opportunity to update them, and I'll certainly take that point back."