Nation special report
LONDON: Pakistan, India and Bangladesh origin politicians in the UK have set a new record by joining the 650-seat lower house of the Parliament winning the snap general elections held on Thursday December 12. A record number of 16 Pakistanis, 16 Indian and 4 Bangladeshi heritage candidates managed to enter the Parliament while many of them maintained their positions.
Prime Minister
Boris Johnson and his ruling Conservative Party return to power with a big
majority, eliminating the uncertain political situation and a bruising defeat
for the arch rival Labour Party. In the fight for 650 seats, Tories have got
365 seats; Labour 203; SNP 48, Lib Dems 11, DUP 08, the Greens one and others
08. Interestingly, the new Parliament voted in also produced the most diverse
Parliament ever, with one in 10 MPs now from an ethnic minority background that
trend set a new record in British parliamentary history.
The victory of 32 Pakistanis and Indian origin MPs is considered the increasing
influence and participation of these heritages in mainstream politics.
Furthermore, the political observers expect more politics of sub-continent and
issues especially the Kashmir and human rights to be dragged into UK Parliament
causing the ethnic tension between the different fractions of the population.
The absolutely unexpected results and exemplary triumph of Conservative Party
have changed the whole scenario of British politics and give a definite
direction to Brexit issue.
Faisal Rasheed, the Labour candidate and sitting MP for Warrington lost his seat and could not get enough votes to win. Out of 16, in total 10 of the seats were won by British-Pakistanis for Labour, five for the Conservative party and one for Lib Dem.
Pak origin MPs
The winners on the Labour tickets include:
- Zarah Sultana MP from Coventry South (new) by securing 19,544 votes with a narrow margin of 491 votes
- Tahir Ali MP from Birmingham Hall Green (new) won easily after he got 35,889 votes
- Veteran Parliamentarian Khalid Mehmood MP from Birmingham Perry Barr won his seat receiving 26,594 votes
- Shabana Mahmood MP from Birmingham Ladywood won by getting got 33,355 votes
- Naz Shah MP won from Bradford West and received 33,736 votes
- Imran Hussain won from Bradford East securing 27,825 votes
- Muhammad Yasin narrowly defended his Bedford seat and won only by 145 after securing 20,491 votes
- Yasmin Qureshi from Bolton South East got 21,516 votes and retained her seat
- Dr Rosenna Ali Khan from Tooting in London received 30,811 and won for the first time
- Afzal Khan MP from Manchester Gorton got 34,583 votes and retained his seat easily.
The winners on the ruling Conservative ticket include:
- Saqib Bhatti from Meriden (new) by securing 34,358 votes
- Sajid Javid from Bromsgrove got 34,408 votes
- Nusrat Ghani from Wealden received 37,043 votes
- Rehman Chishti from Gillingham got 28,173
- Imran Ahmed Khan from Wakefield (new) secured 21,283 votes
- Liberal Democrat Munira Wilson is a first-timer from Twickenham. She is Pakistan origin and has been councillor for Twickenham. She remained 22,045 votes ahead of Labour’s Ranjeev Walia (5,476 votes) and the Brexit Party’s Stuart Wells (816 votes).
The victory of 16 Pakistanis origin MPs is increase of five parliamentarians in the list of 11 MPs who were member of the last parliament. [Labour sitting MP for Warrington, Faisal Rasheed failed to keep his seat in new elections]. No Pakistani origin candidate could win on the tickets of Greens or the Brexit party. The SNP didn’t give ticket to any Pakistani.
This election witnessed a significant surge in British-Pakistani candidates as compared to the polls in 2017. While the previous election saw 40 Pakistani-origin candidates, the latest vote saw 70 such candidates who were given tickets by the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties.
Some British-Pakistanis also ran as independent candidates. The breakdown of the candidates is as follows: 20 for Conservative, 19 for Labour, 12 for Lib Dems (they have never had a Pakistani-origin MP), five for Brexit Party, four for Green Party and 10 independents.
According to figures game, there are about 1.3 million people in the UK of Pakistan and Kashmir ancestry, making it the second largest overseas Pakistani population after Saudi Arabia. The West Midlands is home to 172,000 people of Pakistani ancestry, more than any other British region.
There are an estimated 163,000 people of Pakistani heritage in London, 163,000 in the Yorkshire area and 133,000 in the North West of England. It is estimated that by 2031 there will be at least 2.63 million people of Pakistani ancestry in the UK.
Bangladesh origin MPs
Bangladeshi origin elected MPs include: Rushnara Ali from Bethnal Green & Bow; Rupa Haq in Ealing Central & Acton; Tulip Siddiq in Hampstead and Apsana Begum (new) from Poplar & Lime House.
The inclusion of 65 non-white MPs makes the current parliament most diverse house in British political history. The last House had 52 MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds. Iraqi origin Nadhim Zahawi won again from Stratford upon Avon on the Tory ticket and Feryal Clark of Turkish-Kurd background (new) from Enfield North won on Labour Party.