Iqbal Mohamed is the independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Mohamed won 15,641 votes, representing 41.1% of the vote. The Labour candidate, Heather Iqbal, received 8,707 votes (22.9%), while the Reform UK candidate, Johnathan Thackray, secured 6,152 votes (16.2%). Mohamed was duly elected with a majority of 6,934.

The Dewsbury and Batley constituency, newly created ahead of the 2024 election, is located in West Yorkshire. It was formed primarily from the former Dewsbury constituency with parts of the former Batley and Spen seat added.

Political Career

Mohamed was one of five independent MPs returned at the 2024 general election on platforms that emphasised Palestinian solidarity. He went on to co-found the Independent Alliance of pro-Palestinian MPs, alongside Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), Adnan Hussain (Blackburn), Ayoub Khan (Birmingham Perry Barr) and Shockat Adam (Leicester South).

In a joint-statement issued upon the group’s founding, the Independent Alliance MPs committed themselves “to provide hope in a parliament of despair”.

They added: “Millions of people are crying out for a real alternative to austerity, inequality and war — and their voices deserve to be heard. As individuals we were voted by our constituents to represent their concerns in parliament on these matters, and more, and we believe that as a collective group we can carry on doing this with greater effect.”

Mohamed was among the Independent Alliance MPs who backed a Conservative Party motion opposing the government’s plan to levy VAT on independent schools. The motion called on ministers to publish a full impact assessment to show the effects of the planned reforms on independent schools and the state sector.

Mohamed described Labour’s plan to levy VAT on independent schools as “hugely damaging.”

He stated: “State schools in my constituency are bursting at the seams. There are no spare spaces to move into for the more than 1,000 children being educated in independent schools there. The fees charged by those independent schools are a quarter to half of the cost of state school provision per pupil”.

On 3 July 2025, the leading left-wing MP, Zarah Sultana, announced she was leaving Labour to co-found a new political party alongside Corbyn. The move immediately marked the most significant split on the British left in decades and was expected to include the Independent Alliance MPs. Following her social media statement, Sultana announced she would join the Independent Alliance.

However, the developments that followed Sultana’s announcement pointed to significant internal friction. In September, Sultana launched a membership portal without the full agreement of Corbyn and the interim leadership. More than 20,000 people registered within hours. Corbyn publicly described the new membership portal as a “false… system” and referred the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

In response, Sultana accused Corbyn’s inner circle of forming a “sexist boys’ club” that sought to exclude her from decision-making, an allegation his team denied. Corbyn’s statement denouncing the new membership platform was co-signed by all of the Independent Alliance MPs, including Mohamed – except Sultana. This appeared to signify the fact that Sultana had left the alliance.

The new organisation officially registered with the Electoral Commission as “Your Party” on 30 September 2025. Mere weeks later, independent MPs Adnan Hussain and Mohamed quit the party entirely. Hussain and Mohamed remained members of the Independent Alliance in the House of Commons.

In a statement, Mohamed referred to “false allegations and smears made against me”.

He said: “After careful consideration, I have decided to leave Your Party and continue serving as I was elected as an independent member of parliament for Dewsbury and Batley…

“I will continue working with my colleagues in the Independent Alliance, which has proven highly effective in advocating for the common good in Parliament over the past eighteen months. I am grateful for the sincerity, unity and trust that has defined our work, and look forward to continuing our shared commitment to peace, justice, equality, and truth.”

In December 2024, Mohamed spoke in opposition to the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Bill, introduced by Conservative MP Richard Holden, which sought to ban first-cousin marriage in the UK.

Mohamed argued a ban on first-cousin marriages would not be “enforceable” and said these issues would be better addressed through education programmes.

Mohamed told the House: “Forced marriages must be prevented, and the freedom of women must be protected at all times.

“However, the way to redress this is not to empower the state to ban adults from marrying each other. Not least because I don’t think it would be effective or enforceable. Instead, the matter needs to be approached as a health awareness issue and a cultural issue…

“I therefore urge the House to vote against the motion and to find a more positive approach to addressing the issues that are caused by first-cousin marriage, including the health risks, and the consequences of modern conflicts and displacement of populations around the world.”

Mohamed is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for access to medicine and medical devices and microplastics.

Mohamed delivered his maiden speech on 29 October 2024 during a debate on the Great British Energy Bill.

In it, he said: “I stand today in the mother of parliaments, but it is a sad indictment of our democracy that most people in our country are dissatisfied with the mainstream parties and their policies, politics and behaviours.

“Many feel trampled on, ignored, powerless and disenfranchised, and I am repeatedly told that politicians are all the same and just in it for themselves…

“After 15 weeks as an MP, it is unclear to me how the whip system is democratic or in what way expensive gifts can help MPs better represent their constituents.”

He added: “My election had everything to do with the state of our country and the raw anger over Tory complicity in, and Labour’s refusal to call out, the unfolding genocide in Palestine…

“[Voters] are sick and tired of the double standards, with politicians lining up to condemn and sanction Russian aggression in Ukraine yet defend the most heinous crimes of Israel. Our compassion for Palestinian lives is not inversely proportional to our compassion for Israeli lives, or vice versa.

“All lives are equal, and our compassion must also be equal.”

Political Views

Assisted dying

Mohamed voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

In a statement issued at the time of the bill’s second reading, Mohamed said: “At a time when hospice charities are warning about a massive funding shortfall, and the government committee into hospice care describes existing provision as ‘not fit for purpose’, I feel this government would better serve those suffering with painful terminal illness by investing in top quality palliative care, providing better psychological and emotional support for patients and families, instead of moving forward with legislation that could have unintended consequences.”

Social values and conscience issues

Mohamed voted against a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

In January 2026, Mohamed was listed as a supporter of an amendment to the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, often referred to as the “Hillsborough Law”, that would extend the proposed criminal offence of misleading the public to include MPs and peers. Luke Myer, the Labour MP behind the proposal, argued that his amendment would mean “no-one in parliament would be above the law”, adding: “If politicians deliberately lie to the public, there should be consequences.”

Myer stated: “This amendment is a proportionate, carefully safeguarded response to a real democratic risk. It is not about stifling debate or political disagreement, it is about ensuring that those who seek or hold public office cannot deliberately and knowingly mislead the public without consequence.

“The polling shows that voters across the political spectrum expect parliament to act.”

Myer’s amendment won the support of 30 cross-party MPs.

Palestine

In July 2025, Mohamed was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

Iqbal Hussain Mohamed was born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, into an Indian Muslim family originally from Gujarat, India.

Mohamed attended Westborough High School and Huddersfield New College.

He studied applied physics and electronics at Durham University. During this period, he was president of the University Film Society

Before entering parliament, Mohamed worked in manufacturing and electrical engineering.

Personal Life

Mohamed is the eldest of six children. His parents emigrated to Britain in the 1960s.

In his 2024 maiden speech, Mohamed said: “My late father, Gulam Ahmed, and my mother, Noorjhan Fatima, gave us love, put food in our bellies and taught us proper British and Islamic values, such as honesty, integrity, hard work, friendship, compassion and wanting the best for others.”

Trivia

Mohamed is the first independent MP to be elected in Yorkshire since the Colne Valley by-election in 1907.