List of ethnic minority politicians in the United Kingdom
The list of people who belong to ethnic minorities who have been elected as Members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, European Union, and other British devolved assemblies and also Members of the non-elected House of Lords.
In 2001, Professor Muhammad Anwar of Warwick University wrote a paper titled "The participation of ethnic minorities in British politics" that was published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2001) that in part examined the representation of ethnic minorities at national levels of the British political system.[1] In a chapter in the edited book Race and British Electoral Politics (Routledge, 1998), Andrew Geddes, now Professor of Politics at University of Sheffield, explored the question of "what factors contribute to low levels of ethnic minority representation in the House of Commons".[2]
According to Rajeev Syal and Ami Sedghi, the first ethnic minority MP was elected in 1892[3] - excluding Jews, who were generally considered to be a religious rather than an ethnic minority in the 19th century.[4] This was Dadabhai Naoroji, but a House of Commons Library briefing paper states that "[t]he history of non-white Members of Parliament probably begins with David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who was of mixed European and Indian descent". Sombre was elected in 1841 but the result of the election was overturned due to evidence of bribery and he lost his seat. The briefing paper also notes that John Stewart, who was elected as the MP for Lymington in 1832, was possibly of mixed ethnicity.[5]
At the 2001 general election, the Parliament of the United Kingdom had twelve ethnic minority Members of Parliament (excluding Jews), and after the 2005 general election; that number increased to fifteen.[6] With the 2010 general election, the Parliament of the United Kingdom reported that the number of ethnic minority MPs increased by nearly three-quarters, to a total of 26.[7] The first three Muslim female MPs were elected.[7] All ethnic minority MPs were either Labour (15) or Conservative (11).[7] In October 2013, the UK Parliament reported that the number of ethnic minority MPs stood at 27, or 4.2% of the total.[5]
After the 2015 general election, 41 MPs from an ethnic minority background were elected to Parliament. 25 of the previous 27 ethnic minority MPs retained their seats and were joined by 16 new ethnic minority MPs. 23 were from the Labour Party, 17 of them were Conservatives and one from the SNP.[8] In the 2017 general election, 52 ethnic minority MPs were elected, including 32 Labour MPs, 19 Conservatives and one Liberal Democrat, according to think tank British Future[9] and the House of Commons Library.[4][10] In the 2019 general election, this figure rose to 65, with 22 Conservative, 41 Labour and two Liberal Democrat non-white MPs.[11]
Based on data from unofficial sources including Operation Black Vote, the House of Commons Library estimated that there were 50 ethnic minority members of the House of Lords as of October 2020. Of these, 10 were affiliated with the Labour Party, 14 were crossbenchers, 14 were Conservatives, 6 were Liberal Democrats, and 6 were non-affiliated.[12]
List of ethnic minority Members of Parliament
List of ethnic minority Members of the House of Lords
List of ethnic minority Members of the European Parliament
List of ethnic minority London Assembly Members
Party | Portrait | Name | Constituency | Year elected | Year left | Reason for tenure ending | Ethnicity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | David Lammy | London-wide | 2000 | 2000 | Resigned | Black British | ||
Labour | Trevor Phillips | London-wide | 2000 | 2003 | Resigned | Black British | ||
Labour | Jennette Arnold[4] | North East | 2000 | Serving | Black British | |||
Labour | Murad Qureshi[5] | London-wide | 2004 | 2016 | Defeated | British Bangladeshi | ||
Conservative | James Cleverly[5] | Bexley and Bromley | 2008 | 2016 | Retired | Black British/White British (Mixed) | ||
Labour | Navin Shah[4] | Brent and Harrow | 2008 | Serving | British Indian | |||
Labour | Onkar Sahota[4] | Ealing and Hillingdon | 2012 | Serving | British Indian | |||
Conservative | Kemi Badenoch[5] | London-wide | 2015 | 2017 | Resigned | Black British | ||
Conservative | Shaun Bailey[4] | London-wide | 2016 | Serving | Black British | |||
Labour | Unmesh Desai[4] | City and East | 2016 | Serving | British Indian | |||
Labour Co-op | Florence Eshalomi[4] | Lambeth and Southwark | 2016 | 2021 | Retiring | Black British | ||
UKIP | David Kurten[50] | London-wide | 2016 | Serving | Black British/White British (Mixed) | |||
List of ethnic minority Scottish Parliament Members
Party | Portrait | Name | Constituency | Year elected | Year left | Reason for tenure ending | Ethnicity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SNP | Bashir Ahmad[51] | Glasgow | 2007 | 2009 | Died | British Pakistani | ||
SNP | Humza Yousaf[52] | Glasgow | 2011 | Serving | British Pakistani | |||
Labour | Hanzala Malik[53] | Glasgow | 2011 | 2016 | Defeated | British Pakistani/White British (Mixed) | ||
Labour | Anas Sarwar[53] | Glasgow | 2016 | Serving | British Pakistani | |||
List of ethnic minority Welsh Assembly Members
Party | Portrait | Name | Constituency | Year elected | Year left | Reason for tenure ending | Ethnicity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plaid Cymru | Mohammad Asghar[4][54] | South Wales East | 2007 | 2009 (Crossed the floor in 2009) | Left Plaid Cymru, joined Conservative Party | British Pakistani | ||
Conservative | South Wales East | 2009 | 2020 | Died in office | ||||
Labour | Vaughan Gething[4][54] | Cardiff South and Penarth | 2011 | Serving | Black British/White British (Mixed) | |||
Conservative | Altaf Hussain[55] | South Wales West | 2015 | 2016 | Defeated | British Indian | ||
List of ethnic minority Northern Irish Assembly Members
Party | Portrait | Name | Constituency | Year elected | Year left | Reason for tenure ending | Ethnicity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alliance | Anna Lo[56] | Belfast South | 2007 | 2016 | Retired | British Chinese | ||
List of ethnic minority Police and Crime Commissioners
Party | Portrait | Name | Constituency | Year elected | Year left | Reason for tenure ending | Ethnicity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Hardyal Dhindsa[57] | Derbyshire | 2016 | Serving | British Indian |
List of ethnic minority directly elected mayors
Party | Portrait | Name | Constituency | Year elected | Year left | Reason for tenure ending | Ethnicity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent | | | Lufthar Rahman | Mayor of Tower Hamlets | 2010 | 2014 (Crossed the floor in 2014) | Created Tower Hamlets First | British Bangladeshi | |
Tower Hamlets First | Mayor of Tower Hamlets | 2014 | 2015 | Convicted of corrupt or illegal practices and removed from office | ||||
Labour | Sadiq Khan | Mayor of London | 2016 | Serving | British Pakistani[58] | |||
Labour | Marvin Rees | Mayor of Bristol | 2016 | Serving | Black British/White British (Mixed) | |||
Labour | Rokhsana Fiaz | Mayor of Newham | 2018 | Serving | British Pakistani[59] | |||
Notes
- Muhammad Anwar (2001). "The participation of ethnic minorities in British politics". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 27 (3): 533–549. doi:10.1080/136918301200266220. S2CID 144867334.
- Geddes, Andrew (1998). "Inequality, political opportunity and ethnic minority parliamentary candidacy". In Saggar, Shamit (ed.). Race and British Electoral Politics. Routledge. pp. 145–172. ISBN 978-1-135-35947-8.
- Syal, Rajeev; Sedghi, Ami (13 July 2014). "Parliament failing to represent UK's ethnic diversity". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- Audickas, Lukas; Apostolova, Vyara (28 June 2017). Ethnic Minorities in Politics and Public Life (PDF) (Report). Briefing paper. SN01156. House of Commons Library. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-29. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- John Wood & Richard Cracknell; Social and General Statistics Section (16 October 2013). "Ethnic Minorities in Politics, Government and Public Life" (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2017.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- Dr Justin Fisher (Brunel University), Prof. Edward Fieldhouse (University of Manchester), Prof. David Denver (Lancaster University), Dr Andrew Russell (University of Manchester), Dr David Cutts (University of Manchester) (25 August 2005). "The General Election 2005 Campaign Analysis; Produced for the Electoral Commission" Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine, Electoral Commission.
- "Characteristics of the new House of Commons: key issues for the 2010 Parliament". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 2015-06-20. Retrieved 2015-06-16. This article contains material from this source, which is available under the Open Parliament Licence Archived 2016-02-12 at the Wayback Machine.
- "The class of 2015 enter Britain's most diverse ever parliament". British Future. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
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- Audickas, Lukas; Cracknell, Richard; Bellis, Alexander (5 November 2019). Social background of MPs 1979-2017 (PDF) (Report). Briefing paper. CBP-7483. House of Commons Library. pp. 9–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 January 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
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- Cracknell, Richard (5 January 2012). "Ethnic Minorities in Politics, Government and Public Life" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2015.
- Goodrich, Amanda (8 April 2019). "Ethnic minorities in Parliament: a new addition to the Victorian Commons". The Victorian Commons. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- Vaz, J. Clement (1997). Profiles of Eminent Goans, Past and Present. Concept Publishing Company. p. 262. ISBN 8170226198.
- Walford, Edward (1919). The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. p. 1242.
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- Suspended till 2012 for having been jailed due to United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
- Suspended for four months due to United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
- Suspended for 16 months due to United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
- Suspended after being jailed for a fatal road crash in 2007 and expelled 2009 for racial remarks
- Suspended for eight months due to United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
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