Preet Gill

Preet Kaur Gill
MP
Shadow Minister for International Development
Assumed office
12 January 2018
Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Preceded by Roberta Blackman-Woods
Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Edgbaston
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded by Gisela Stuart
Majority 6,917 (15.8%)
Home Affairs Select Committee Member
In office
11 September 2017 – 5 February 2018
Succeeded by John Woodcock
Personal details
Born (1972-11-21) 21 November 1972
Edgbaston, Birmingham
Nationality British
Political party Labour Co-operative
Spouse(s)
Sureash Singh Chopra (m. 2009)
Children 2
Alma mater University of East London
Website preetkaurgill.com

Preet Kaur Gill (born 21 November 1972)[1][2] is a British Labour Co-operative politician. She is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Edgbaston since the 2017 general election. She is the first female British Sikh MP.

Early life

Preet Kaur Gill was born on 21 November 1972 in Edgbaston, Birmingham, to Daljit Singh Shergill and Kuldeep Kaur Shergill.[1][3] Her father was a foreman and later a bus driver and her mother worked as a seamstress.[4][5] Daljit Singh was the longest serving president of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick. Gill credits her father and Lord King (first Sikh life peer in the House of Lords) as her main inspiration for her ambition to enter politics.[6][7]

She has six younger siblings. Her early education was at Lordswood Girls' School and Bournville College. At the latter Gill was elected as student president.[5] Gill graduated from the University of East London with a first class BSc. degree in Sociology and Social Work.[8] After graduating, she worked as a social worker in a kibbutz in Israel and with street children in India.[5] She was elected as a councillor for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in 2012 and was re-elected in the 2016 local election. On the council she has served as the Cabinet Member for Public Health and Protection.[5][8][9] Gill supported remaining within the European Union (EU) in the 2016 EU membership referendum.[10]

Parliamentary career

Gill was selected by the Labour Party to contest the Birmingham Edgbaston seat on 28 April 2017.[3] Her selection followed the constituency's previous Labour MP Gisela Stuart decision not to seek re-election.[11] Stuart had represented Birmingham Edgbaston since 1997.[4] In the 2017 general election, Gill stood as the Labour and Co-operative candidate and was elected as MP with 24,124 (55.3%) votes and a majority of 6,917 (15.8%).[12][13] She is the first female British Sikh MP.[14] In July, she was elected as a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee.[13] Gill is the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mentoring and Sikhs.[15] On 12 January 2018, she was appointed to the shadow cabinet as International Development Minister (role shared with Dan Carden).[16]

Personal life

Preet has been married to Sureash Singh Chopra since 2009 and they have two daughters.[1] He works as a social worker.[5] In addition to her parliamentary duties, Gill continues to be a councillor on the Sandwell council as well as a non executive director for the Spring Housing Association.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Who's Who (online edition)". Oxford University Press. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  2. ↑ "Preet Kaur Gill". Companies House. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 Walker, Jonathan (28 April 2017). "Labour selects Preet Gill as Birmingham Edgbaston candidate". Birmingham Mail.
  4. 1 2 Stacey, Alison (9 June 2017). "Daughter of Indian bus driver becomes UK's first female Sikh MP". Birmingham Post.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Sidhu, Balvinder (6 July 2017). "'Dream big, think big': The story of Britain's first female Sikh MP". ITV News.
  6. ↑ Badshah, Nadeem (12 June 2017). "Preet Gill's reveals her father inspired her to become first female Sikh MP". Eastern Eye.
  7. ↑ Mubarak, Salva (9 June 2017). "Preet Kaur Gill is now Britain's first female Sikh MP". Elle India.
  8. 1 2 "UEL graduate Preet Kaur Gill becomes first female Sikh MP". University of East London. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Madeley, Pete (13 June 2017). "New MP Preet Gill set to stay on as councillor". Express & Star.
  10. ↑ Sonwalkar, Prasun (22 June 2016). "British Indian councillors want to stay in EU". Hindustan Times.
  11. ↑ "Election 2017: Which MPs are standing down, and who might be standing?". BBC News. 2 May 2017.
  12. ↑ "Birmingham Edgbaston". BBC News. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  13. 1 2 "Preet Kaur Gill MP". parliament.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  14. ↑ "Preet Gill elected as first female Sikh MP". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  15. ↑ "Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups" (PDF). parliament.uk. 8 November 2017. pp. 622, 770.
  16. ↑ Eden, Tom (12 January 2018). "Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn reshuffles his front bench and promotes two North East MPs". Evening Chronicle.
  17. ↑ "Register of Members' Financial Interests as at 23 October 2017" (PDF). parliament.uk. p. 176. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Gisela Stuart		 Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston
2017–present		 Incumbent
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