A record of 13 Muslim MPs, up from 8 in 2010, have been elected in one of the most unpredictable and extraordinary general elections in Britain. Eight of the Muslim MPs are women. “It is great news that there are more Muslim MPs elected than ever before. However, the House of Commons still does not reflect the diversity of the population,” said Editor of The Muslim News, Ahmed J Versi. He added that it was a welcome sign that more Muslim women have been elected this year, six Labour, one Conservative and one SNP.
The election included the first Muslim SNP MP, Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh, elected in the landslide by the nationalist party in Scotland as well as the first female Muslim Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani.
While Labour votes fell away, four Muslim candidates won seats for the first time for the opposition party and added to five who were re-elected. Anas Sarwar in Glasgow was the only sitting Muslim MP not re-elected after falling victim of the sweeping SNP victories.
One of the most surprising was mental health campaigner Naz Shah winning Bradford West back for Labour with a majority of 11,420 against Respect party leader George Galloway who had won the seat in a landslide bi-election in 2012.
On party numbers, Labour has nine Muslim MPs, the Tories three and the SNP one. Despite fielding 24 Muslim candidates all in unwinnable seats, the Lib Dems have yet to have a Muslim MP. Of the total of 13 Muslim MPs, six are women.
List of new Muslim MPs
Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh (SNP, Ochil_and_South_Perthshire)
Rupa Huq (Labour, Ealing Central and Acton)
Tulip Rizwana Siddiq (Labour, Hampstead and Kilburn)
Nusrat Ghani (Conservatives, Wealden)
Naz Shah (Labour, Bradford West)
Imran Hussein (Labour, Bradford East)
Incumbent Muslim MPs
- Sajid Javid [Conservative]
- Sadiq Khan [Labour]
- Rushanara Ali [Labour]
- Khalid Mahmood [Labour]
- Shabana Mahmood [Labour]
- Yasmin Qureshi [Labour]
- Rehman Chisti [Conservative]
Morena ThaboMay 12, 2015
Since the Koran requires all Muslims to have total loyalty to Al Lah in all matters, how can any Muslim belong to any political party?
Irene RidgeonMay 23, 2015
I think it is very encouraging to see British Muslims taking an active role in their country’s politics and particularly to see Muslim women doing so.
A R KhayalJune 6, 2015
I am glad that so many Muslim candidate become MPs some first and some second time congratulations to all
One question remain in my mind what sort of development bring for local areas and how they are promote employment ,health and education for ethnic minority’s people’s as I see it shouldn’t be photo session thanks