UK: The Indian-Origins Who Made It To The House Of Commons (image@Keir_Starmer)
The role played by Indian-origin Members of Parliament played a key role in the UK General election. Indian constitutes a major part of UK’s ethnic population. According to 2021 Census, roughly 1.9 million Indians are there in Indian ethnic population. As per poll prediction, the Labour party will win 410 out of the 650 seats in the Parliament, marking a strong comeback from their abysmal defeat five years ago. Despite comprising to the 3 percent of UK’s population, Indian-origins contribute to 6 percent of the country’s GDP, highlighting their economic and potentially influential political footprint.
The former UK Parliament, under Rishis Sunak, an Indian-origin Prime Minister, had had 15 Indian-origin MPs, eight from Labour and seven from the Conservative Party, among 65 non-while MPs elected, setting a diverse milestone in the history of British political landscape.
There are total of 107 British-Indians who are vying for the 680 seats of the UK Parliament in the 2024 General Election.
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Among the Indian-origin leaders who won are as follows:
Shivani Raja: A Conservative and Unionist Party candidate, she took the seat from Labour Party over the margin of 14,526 votes. She has contested against notable candidates such as MPs Claude Webbe and Keith Vaz, who ran as Independents.
Suella Braverman: She won from Fareham and Waterlooville seats. She is a Conservative and Unionist party candidate. During the last re-shuffle of the last Rishi Sunak cabinet, she was replaced by James Cleverly as interior minister. She was forced out of the post of home secretary, after challenging Sunak. Braverman also ccused the Metropolitan Police of siding with pro-Palestinian protesters.
Preet Kaur Gill: The Labour party candidate retained the seat from the Birmingham Edgbaston. She has served as the Shadow Minister for Primary Care and Public Health. After the win, she wrote on her X, “A honour and a privilege to be re-elected again as MP for Birmingham Edgbaston. Thank you to everyone who put their trust in me. I will continue to serve the people and place I love”.
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Kanishka Narayan: The Labour candidate, who became the first MP of Welsh from a minority background, won the seat by defeating former Welsh Sec Alun Cairns. Narayan, who was born in India, has moved to UK, when he was 12. He served as a civil servant in the Cabinet Office under David Cameron and in the Environment Department under Liz Truss.
Rishi Sunak: The Prime Minister has retained his northern London seat, but his Conservative Party faced a major defeat in the general election after Labour Party clinched a landslide victory.
Taking to his X account, Sunak said, “To the hundreds of Conservative candidates, thousands of volunteers and millions of voters: Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your support, and thank you for your vote”.
