Asian MPs take key roles in select committees

SEVERAL Asian-origin MPs have secured important roles in the parliament’s select committees, contributing to various policy areas.

Labour’s Sonia Kumar will serve on the Business and Trade Committee, while Rupa Huq has been named on the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee. Sureena Brackenridge will represent Labour on the Education Committee, and Uma Kumaran has been selected for the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Naushabah Khan will sit on the Housing, Communities, and Local Government (HCLG) Committee, and Gagan Mohindra, a Conservative MP, has also been named on the HCLG Committee.

Layla Moran from the Liberal Democrats will chair the Health and Social Care Committee, with Labour’s Warinder Juss on the Justice Committee.

Neil Shashtri-Hurst, a Conservative, has also been named on the Justice Committee.

Labour’s Baggy Shanker holds a position on the Transport Committee, Jeevun Sandher is a member of the Treasury Committee, and Tan Dhesi will chair the Defence Committee.

Here is a complete overview of the select committees and their members:

Business and Trade Committee: Labour members include Chair Liam Byrne, Sonia Kumar, Antonia Bance, Sarah Edwards, Gregor Poynton, Matt Western, and Rosie Wrighting, along with Conservatives John Cooper and Alison Griffiths, and Liberal Democrats Charlie Maynard and Joshua Reynolds.

Culture, Media, and Sport Committee: Conservative Caroline Dinenage will chair this committee, with fellow Conservative Mims Davies, Labour’s Bayo Alaba, James Frith, Natasha Irons, Rupa Huq, Jo Platt, Tom Rutland, and Paul Waugh, and Liberal Democrats Zoe Franklin and Liz Jarvis.

Education Committee: Labour’s Helen Hayes will chair, with Labour members Jess Asato, Sureena Brackenridge, Amanda Martin, Darren Paffey, Mark Sewards, and Marie Tidball. Conservatives Caroline Johnson and Patrick Spencer, along with Liberal Democrats Manuela Perteghella and Caroline Voaden, have also been named on the committee.

Foreign Affairs Committee: Chaired by Labour’s Emily Thornberry, members include Labour’s Dan Carden, Claire Hazelgrove, Uma Kumaran, Blair McDougall, Abtisam Mohamed, and Matthew Patrick, with Conservatives Aphra Brandreth and John Whittingdale, and Liberal Democrats Richard Foord and Edward Morello.

Housing, Communities, and Local Government (HCLG) Committee: Chaired by Labour’s Florence Eshalomi, the committee includes Labour’s Chris Curtis, Maya Ellis, Naushabah Khan, Joe Powell, and Sarah Smith, with Conservatives Lewis Cocking and Gagan Mohindra, Liberal Democrats Lee Dillon and Will Forster, and Independent Mike Amesbury.

Health and Social Care Committee: Liberal Democrat Layla Moran will chair, joined by Liberal Democrat Andrew George, Labour’s Danny Beales, Ben Coleman, Beccy Cooper, Deidre Costigan, Jen Craft, Josh Fenton-Glynn, and Paulette Hamilton, with Conservatives Joe Robertson and Gregory Stafford.

Justice Committee: Labour’s Andy Slaughter will chair this committee, with members Alex Barros-Curtis, Pam Cox, Linsey Farnsworth, Warinder Juss, Sarah Russell, and Mike Tapp, joined by Conservatives Ashley Fox and Neil Shashtri-Hurst, and Liberal Democrats Josh Babarinde and Tessa Munt.

Transport Committee: Chaired by Labour’s Ruth Cadbury, with Labour members Scott Arthur, Elsie Blundell, Catherine Atkinson, Alex Mayer, Baggy Shanker, and Laurence Turner, alongside Conservatives Rebecca Smith and Katie Lam, and Liberal Democrats Olly Glover and Steff Aquarone.

Treasury Committee: Chaired by Labour’s Meg Hillier, with Labour members Rachel Blake, Siobhain McDonagh, Lola McEvoy, Lucy Rigby, Jeevun Sandher, and Yuan Yang, along with Conservatives Harriet Baldwin and John Glen, and Liberal Democrats Chris Coghlan and Bobby Dean.

Defence Committee: Chaired by Labour’s Tan Dhesi, with members Calvin Bailey, Alex Baker, Emma Lewell-Buck, Michelle Scrogham, Fred Thomas, and Derek Twigg, along with Conservatives Lincoln Jopp and Jesse Norman, and Liberal Democrats Mike Martin and Ian Roome.

These roles place Asian MPs in significant policy discussions and legislative oversight across business, media, education, foreign policy, housing, health, justice, transport, treasury, and defence.