Rushanara Ali appointed under-secretary of state for housing, communities and local govt

Born in Sylhet, she has been elected MP for the fifth consecutive term

The newly elected Labour government has appointed Bangladeshi-origin Rushanara Ali MP as a parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The government and Labour Party updated the list with Rushanara and a flurry of other appointments on their websites on Tuesday, five days after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s party swept to power in a landslide election victory that ended 14 years of often tumultuous Conservative government.

Rushanara, hailing from Sylhet, was elected as an MP for the Labour Party for the fifth consecutive term.

She made history in 2010 as the first Bangladeshi-born British lawmaker after winning the Labour Party's nomination.

This election, her constituency underwent a slight change: it was formerly Bethnal Green and Bow and is now known as Bethnal Green and Stepney.

Rushanara secured 15,896 votes, narrowly defeating her closest competitor, another Bangladeshi, Ajmal Masroor, who got 14,207 votes as an independent candidate.

Md Somon Ahmed and Sam Uddin, also Bangladeshi, ran as independents in the same seat.

Rabina Khan, of Bangladeshi origin, also competed under the Liberal Democrats.

Rushanara had worked as the shadow minister of investment and small business, education, and international development.

She had also worked in the treasury, levelling up, housing and communities, and energy and climate committees.

The government earlier named Tulip Siddiq, another Bangladeshi-origin UK politician reelected MP, the city minister after she had led Labour's efforts to develop policies for the financial services industry.