Britain’s first woman Sikh Member of Parliament (MP), Preet Kaur Gill has been elevated to the Shadow Cabinet by the Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Gill is appointed as Shadow Minister for International Development.
The Shadow Cabinet is the team of senior parliamentarians chosen by the Leader of the Opposition to mirror the Cabinet in Government.
Each member is appointed to lead on a specific policy area for their party and to question and challenge their counterpart in the Cabinet. In this way, the Opposition seeks to present itself as an alternative government-in-waiting.
Gill, 44, won her Birmingham Edgbaston seat for the Labour party in the June 8 snap polls last year.In July, she was elected to the Home Affairs Select Committee in the British Parliament.
She was promoted to the post of shadow minister for international development in Mr Corbyn’s New Year reshuffle of what he brands as a “government-in-waiting”.
Gill had said at the time of her election.”We had no Sikh MPs prior to this election. So, Sikhs had no representation and we had no female Sikh representation. Parliament must reflect the people it serves.”
Since then, she has a busy tenure, being elected to the influential Home Affairs Select Committee – the cross-party parliamentary panel that examines the workings of the UK Home Office. Gill is also the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs.
British Prime Minister Theresa May had announced a reshuffle of her top team earlier this year, leading to the appointment of three new Indian-origin MPs — Rishi Sunak, Suella Fernandes and Shailesh Vara — to junior ministerial posts.
