Imran Hussain (born 7 June 1978) is a British Labour Party politician and a barrister. He became the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bradford East after gaining the seat from the Liberal Democrats at the 2015 general election.[1]
Imran Hussain | |||||||||||||
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Member of Parliament for Bradford East | |||||||||||||
Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |||||||||||||
Preceded by | David Ward | ||||||||||||
Majority | 18,144 (41.1%) | ||||||||||||
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Member of Bradford City Council for Toller | |||||||||||||
In office 2 May 2002 – 3 May 2018 | |||||||||||||
Preceded by | Q. Khan | ||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Kamran Hussain | ||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||
Born | Bradford, West Yorkshire, England | 7 June 1978||||||||||||
Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||
Other political affiliations | Socialist Campaign Group | ||||||||||||
Alma mater | University of Huddersfield | ||||||||||||
Website | Official website | ||||||||||||
He was re-elected to Parliament in 2017 and 2019.[2] He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus.
Hussain was born and raised in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He attended local state-funded schools and as a teenager worked in Morrisons supermarket, sweeping floors and stacking shelves.[3]
Hussain was a Labour councillor in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council having first been elected in 2002.[4] In 2003, Hussain brought forward a motion to Bradford Council opposing the Coalition Invasion of Iraq.[5]
In 2008, he was elected as Deputy Leader of the council's Labour Group.[6] In 2010, when Labour took control of the council, he became Deputy Leader of Bradford Council and remained in that position for five years until the 2015 general election when he was elected to the House of Commons.[7]
Following his election to Westminster, Hussain rejected his council allowance, which he was entitled to, stating it was a "principled decision" as it would be wrong "to get two salaries" from public office.[8]
In 2012, Hussain was selected by Labour to contest Bradford West in the by-election caused by the resignation of the Labour incumbent, Marsha Singh, due to "serious illness".[9] The election was unexpectedly won by George Galloway of the Respect Party with a large majority.[10]
In 2014, Bradford East Constituency Labour Party opened its parliamentary selection process. In the final selection meeting held on 1 November 2014, Hussain was chosen over three other candidates, including the President of the Trades Union Congress to become Labour's candidate for the seat.[11] During his 2015 general election campaign for Bradford East, Hussain rejected a £1,000 donation from Tony Blair citing his own opposition to the Iraq War as the reason.[12]
He was subsequently elected to Parliament in 2015 by gaining the seat from David Ward of the Liberal Democrats with a 13.8% swing to Labour and a majority of 7,084.[13] On 15 May 2015, Hussain was one of 10 newly elected Labour MPs who signed an open letter calling for a Leader of the Labour Party who will not "draw back to the ‘New Labour’ creed of the past" and will oppose austerity.[14]
On 20 July 2015, Hussain was one of 48 Labour MPs who voted against the Welfare Bill and therefore rebelled against the Labour Party's position of abstaining on the vote. He described the bill as "cruel and unfair" and said it would be "attacking hard working families, the poorest and children".[15]
Hussain was one of 36 Labour MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[16] He fully supported Corbyn's leadership campaign.[17] On 14 January 2016, Hussain was appointed Shadow Minister of State for International Development by Jeremy Corbyn.[18] On 3 July 2017, he was appointed Shadow Minister of State for Justice.[19] Hussain nominated Rebecca Long-Bailey as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2020 and nominated Richard Burgon for the deputy leadership.[20][21] On 9 April 2020 he was appointed by Keir Starmer as Shadow Minister of State for Employment Rights. In the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed Shadow Minister for the New Deal for Working People.[22]
On 8 November 2023, Hussain resigned as Shadow Minister because of Starmer's refusal to call for a ceasefire in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. Hussain said he wanted to be a "strong advocate for the humanitarian ceasefire" but could not do that as a frontbencher "given its current position".[23]