Nottingham East Constituency: Meet queer Sikh MP Nadia Whittome who hopes to repeat win

There are lots of British Indians in the fray in this year’s general election, many of them Sikhs but few have a profile as unique as Nadia Whittome.
The youngest MP (when she was elected) in the House of Commons – Baby of the House so to speak – is one of the few Queer MPs in the House of Commons and was Pink News’ Politician of the Year in 2020. When she was elected in 2019 on a Labour ticket, she became the youngest-ever MP in the House of Commons.She only claims £35,000 of the £81,932 salary, the rest of which she donates to various charities. She said after winning in 2019: “It’s so weird. I have enormous privilege now. But I was elected to be a worker’s representative and it’s the reason I gave away my salary and took a worker’s wage. I think it’s important for me not to be on a wage that materially vastly separates me from my constituents, though, I do earn quite a bit more than the average person in Nottingham.”
She has been vocal about her stance on social justice and said: “We should be unequivocally, unapologetically and actively against antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Blackness, other forms of racism.”
She sparked outrage when she claimed that Rishi Sunak’s elevation as Prime Minister wasn’t a win for “Asian representation”. In a tweet that was deleted after discussion with Labour whips, she had also posted: “Black, white or Asian: if you work for a living, he is not on your side.”
In a stinging column for Left Lion, she wrote: “Despite his short time in power (although, to be fair, he did outlive several lettuces in my fridge), he’s bagged a handful of achievements to be remembered by. Such as plunging the economy into a recession, setting a climate plan so inadequate that it was ruled unlawful twice, or spending millions on a cruel and ludicrous plan to send refugees to Rwanda, which thankfully never materialised. He even managed to break a few records: overseeing record food bank use, the highest-ever number of children in temporary accommodation, longest-ever NHS waiting lists, and the highest levels of child poverty since records began.”
In the piece she said she wanted to live in a country with rent stability, with a government that focusses on rent stability, lifting people out of poverty and again become a leader in climate action.
She also added: “I want to live in a society where LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, migrants and communities of colour are safe, respected and given every opportunity to thrive, not used as a political football by those in power.”
In 2019, she won the seat by a majority of 17,393. This time she faces off against Issan Ghazni (Workers Party), Ali Khan (Independent), Johno Lee (Conservative), Rosey Palmer (Green Party), Anita Prabhakar (Liberal Democrats), Naveed Rashid (Independent) and Debbie Stephens (Reform UK).