POLITICIAN Preet Kaur Gill made history when she was elected to parliament in 2017, becoming the first female Sikh to become an MP in Britain.
Voted as the Labour representative for Birmingham Edgbaston, Gill’s triumph saw social me -dia light up with messages of congratulations from all over the world. People from as far as India went out of their way to commend her achievement. The praise has not slowed down, either.
Since her election, Gill has become known as a champion for the Sikh community. She has passionately fought for the recognition and reduction of anti-Sikh hate crime and has led the campaign for a Sikh ethnic tick-box on the 2021 census. The 48-year-old lawmaker also acts as the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Mentoring and for British Sikhs. “I believe it is vital that MPs use their positions to amplify the voices of the underrepresented communities they serve in parliament, and it’s that ethos that guides the work I do,” she says.
In Westminster, Gill has proved herself as a rising star. Previously a shadow minister for international development, she was promoted to the shadow cabinet in April and currently acts as the shadow secretary for international development. In December, Gill won the prestigious ‘MP of the Year Award’, from diversity and inclusion charity Patchwork Foundation. It noted her ongoing campaign to tackle Fuel Poverty via a strategic campaign aimed at the UK’s biggest companies.
Within the space of two months in 2018, she was named as one of the Birmingham City University’s ‘Brummies Who Inspire’ and presented with the ‘Sikh Women of Substance’ award by the Sikh’s Women Alliance UK.
Growing up, Gill was brought up in her constituency of Edgbaston, in central Birmingham.
The eldest of seven children, she helped to look after her siblings from an early age. Her father, Daljit Singh, was a bus driver while her mother, Kuldeep Kaur, worked as a seamstress.
She moved to London to study at university, obtaining a first class BSc degree in Sociology and Social Work from the University of East London. After graduating, she worked as a social worker. Her interests soon turned to politics and Gill was elected as a Labour councillor for the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in 2012. She was the sole female Sikh woman councillor out of 72
councillors – even though a quarter of Sandwell’s population is made up of Sikhs. “Actually, we need to push our young people into this side as well, to be active and engaged in politics, it’s so important.”
Gill has been married to Sureash Singh Chopra since 2009. The couple has two daughters.
