British-Pakistanis set record representation in Starmer’s government

• Keir Starmer is Britain’s new Prime Minister after a landslide victory.
• The new parliament is the most diverse ever.
• 15 British-Pakistanis are in parliament, with four newly elected members.

Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer will lead a parliament that is more ethnically diverse and includes more women than ever, following a decisive victory in the election on Thursday that ended 14 years of Conservative governance.

The number of British-Pakistanis in the new parliament remains at 15, with four of them entering parliament for the first time.

Members of the Labour Party, including Afzal Khan, Imran Hussain, Naz Shah, Yasmin Qureshi, Muhammad Yasin, Tahir Ali, Shabana Mahmood, Zarah Sultana, Dr. Zubir Ahmed, Naushabah Khan, and Dr. Rosena Allin-Khan, secured victories in the election.

They are joined in parliament by Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain, who were elected as independent candidates, as well as Saqib Bhatti and Nusrat Ghani, who won their seats as Conservative candidates.

According to Reuters, Black, Asian, and ethnic minority lawmakers will make up about 13% of the House of Commons, an increase from 10% in the 2019 parliamentary election.

This will represent the largest-ever proportion of ethnic minority members in the lower house, as per an analysis by the think tank British Future.

Over the 44 years since outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was born, minority representation in Britain’s parliament has grown from zero to nearly one in seven lawmakers, British Future reported.

However, this share still does not fully mirror the diversity of the population and electorate, with around 18% of people in England and Wales coming from Black, Asian, mixed, or ethnic minority backgrounds, according to official statistics.

“The 2024 election is a landmark for representation, with record diversity in our parliament, closer than ever to that of the electorate,” said Sunder Katwala, director of British Future.

“The irony that it coincides with the end of Rishi Sunak’s premiership as the UK’s first British Asian Prime Minister only underlines how ethnic diversity has become a new norm across the main political parties.”

The new parliament will feature a record 242 female lawmakers, an increase of 22 from the last election in 2019.

When Labour’s Diane Abbott, Britain’s first Black female lawmaker, joined parliament in 1987, there were just 41 women in the House of Commons.

Re-elected to her seat in northeast London, which she has held for 37 years, Abbott will become the “mother of the house,” an honorary title for the longest-serving female minister.

Although final results are pending, Labour emerged victorious in Thursday’s parliamentary election, securing around 412 seats, which gives them a majority of 174.

The new governing party in Britain will have the highest number of ethnic minority MPs — 66 out of the 87 elected. However, this diversity is unlikely to be fully represented in the top cabinet when Starmer selects his front bench.

Shadow foreign affairs minister David Lammy, Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood, and Energy Minister Ed Milliband are among the ethnic minority ministers expected to be part of Starmer’s top team. Thangam Debbonaire, who was anticipated to join the top team, lost her seat.

The defeated Conservative Party has a stronger record for diversity at the ministerial level.

Delivering his final speech as Prime Minister outside No. 10 Downing Street on Friday, Sunak said: “One of the most remarkable things about Britain is just how unremarkable it is that two generations after my grandparents came here with little, I could become prime minister.”

Sunak was the country’s first British-Indian leader, and all three female prime ministers have been Conservatives.

Meanwhile, Labour’s Rachel Reeves will be Britain’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer, or finance minister.

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