Naz Shah is the Labour MP for Bradford West, having first been elected to parliament at the 2015 general election.  

In the 2024 general election, Shah won 11,724 votes, representing 31.6% of the vote. Independent candidate Muhammed Islam received 11,017 votes (29.7%), while the Green Party candidate, Khalid Mahmood, secured 3,690 votes (10.0%). Shah was duly elected with a majority of 707 votes.

The Bradford West constituency covers western parts of the city in West Yorkshire. It is an ethnically diverse seat with a large British Asian population. Although won by George Galloway in a 2012 by-election, The seat is traditionally considered safe Labour territory but was won by George Galloway and the Respect Party in a 2012 by-election. The Respect Party was launched in January 2004 as a new left-wing alternative to New Labour under Tony Blair. In his victory speech, Galloway hailed the result as “the most sensational victory in British by-election history” and the “Bradford Spring”.

Galloway was unseated by Shah at the 2015 general election. She won 19,977 votes (49.6%). Galloway placed second with 8,557 votes (21.2%).

Shah voted for Galloway in the 2012 by-election, later commenting: “I voted for Galloway in 2012 because he promised change. Within months it was really clear that he didn’t care about Bradford.

“That was the first time I actually held my politician to account and got involved locally. And obviously my own background, I was born in Bradford West and it made me who I am and it’s where I want to make change.”

Political Career

Shah serves as a trade envoy to Indonesia and ASEAN (since January 2025). Appointed by the trade secretary, envoys are tasked with boosting British exports and attracting foreign investment. An envoy’s duties typically involve leading trade delegations, lobbying host governments on market access issues, and building relationships with overseas businesses.

Shah delivered the first speech after the 2026 king’s speech, proposing the loyal address. In her remarks, she said she was “humbled and honoured” to have been “given this opportunity to be the first ever Muslim to propose this loyal address in this chamber.”

Shah told the House: “I know without a doubt that, as someone who comes from the ethnic, religious and socioeconomic background that I came from, and whose entire live crashed before her, I would never have been given such an honour in any other country than this one – my own country, our country.

“For me, there is no nation greater than ours. We are the greatest nation on earth, and I am a true patriot.”

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader of the opposition, praised Shah’s “moving and funny speech”. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, said Shah proposed the loyal address “brilliantly”.

Prior to the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, Shah served as shadow minister for crime reduction from December 2021 until November 2023.

Shah resigned from the frontbench in November 2023 to vote in favour of a motion tabled by the Scottish National Party (SNP) calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza – defying the instruction set out by the party’s frontbench. Labour had tabled its own motion, making a more moderate appeal for a “humanitarian pause” in the conflict and ordered its representatives to support that stance.

At the time, Shah said her email inbox was full of messages from constituents who agreed with her position.

She told Sky News: “We have to make our positions clear… our job in parliament is to use our platforms to convince people, which is what I did in the chamber earlier.

“I’m not alone in calling for a ceasefire… my inbox has thousands of emails about a ceasefire. This is an issue that the British public feel strongly about.

“At some point there will be a ceasefire. Had we called for a ceasefire yesterday, 144 children might still be alive. A child dies every 10 minutes.”

In a social media post following the vote, Shah added: “Today, I voted for an immediate ceasefire.

“For the people of Palestine, every minute, every hour, every day we wait is another orphan, another grieving mother and another family wiped out!

“We must act now to protect civilian life.”

Previously, Shah was shadow minister for community cohesion (2020-2021) and shadow minister for women and equalities (2018-2020).

Shah also served briefly as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, in 2016. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs.

In April 2016, Shah resigned as McDonnell’s PPS and was suspended from the Labour Party pending investigation after social media posts from 2014 came to light, including one suggesting Israel be relocated to the United States. She apologised, conceding that the post was antisemitic.

The post in question showed an image of Israel’s outline superimposed on a map of the US under the headline “Solution for Israel-Palestine conflict – relocate Israel into United States”.

Jeremy Corbyn called the comments “offensive and unacceptable”.

Shah told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “I wasn’t antisemitic, what I put out was antisemitic”

Shah was reinstated as a Labour MP in July 2016.

Shah was a member of the House of Commons home affairs committee (2015-2018).

Shah is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Islamic and ethical finance and foreign affairs.

Shah delivered her maiden speech on 7 July 2015 during a debate on Tax Credits.

In it, she said: “I chose to make my maiden speech in a debate about child tax credit because the issue will have an impact on real families in my constituency.

“Child poverty is not just an abstract notion in respect of which statistics over-represent the true figures; it is a reality. Some schools in Bradford serve lunch at 11 am because they know that it may be the first meal of the day for many children.”

She added: “Being a member of this House is an honour and privilege that we all share, but to earn the trust of people we grew up with against a backdrop of one of the most vile and personalised election campaigns ever seen in Great Britain makes my smile just that extra bit broader as I stand here today.

“It is a further honour to be the first woman ever to represent the Bradford West constituency.”

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour leadership 2020: Shah was one of 22 Labour who nominated Emily Thornberry for the party’s leadership in early 2020. The election was triggered by the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn following the party’s defeat in the 2019 general election, which resulted in Labour’s fewest seats in the House of Commons since 1935.

Thornberry, then the shadow foreign secretary, was one of five candidates to reach the second stage of the contest. However, she was eliminated from the race on 15 February 2020 after failing to secure the required 33 nominations from Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) or three affiliated groups. This left Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, and Lisa Nandy as the three candidates on the final membership ballot.

Labour leadership 2015: Shah nominated Yvette Cooper for the party’s leadership in June 2015. The election followed the resignation of Ed Miliband after the party’s defeat in the 2015 general election. It was the first contest held under the “one member, one vote” system, which replaced the previous electoral college.

Cooper, the shadow home secretary, secured 59 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 35 required to reach the final ballot. She ultimately finished third in the contest with 17% of the vote.

Corbyn loyalty list: In March 2016, Shah was labelled as “neutral but not hostile” by the Corbyn leadership in a leaked list which categorised Labour MPs by their perceived loyalty.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Shah supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore agreed with a majority of her constituents, 53.3% of whom also voted to Remain.

Article 50: In February 2017, Shah voted in favour of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The legislation empowered the prime minister to notify the Council of the European Union of the UK’s intention to withdraw, formally triggering the process set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. MPs supported the bill by 498 votes to 114 at second reading.

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Shah was one of the over 120 Labour MPs to sign the reasoned amendment to the government’s flagship welfare bill which aimed to reject the proposed legislation.

The amendment, in the name of senior Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, objected to the fact that the bill had not been subject to a “formal consultation with disabled people” and that “250,000 people will be pushed into poverty” as a result of it, according to a government impact assessment.

The motion also called on the government to wait for the publication of the review into the Personal Independence Payment (Pip), helmed by minister Sir Stephen Timms, and the independent review, conducted by Sir Charlie Mayfield, into how the employment of disabled people could be boosted.

Welfare vote (July 2025): Shah went on to abstain over the bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

Assisted dying

Shah 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).

Foreign policy and security

Trident renewal (2016): Shah voted against a government motion calling for the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent system in July 2016. The motion, which was passed by 472 votes to 117, committed the UK to constructing a new fleet of submarines to carry the nation’s nuclear weapons. Labour was split over the issue with 140 of its 230 MPs going against leader Jeremy Corbyn and backing the motion.

Syria airstrikes (2015): Shah voted against a government motion to extend UK airstrikes against Isis from Iraq into Syria in December 2015. The motion, which was passed by 397 votes to 223 after a ten-hour debate in the House of Commons, authorised the RAF to conduct strikes against Isis targets in Syria.

Palestine

LFPME: Shah has been listed as a member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (LFPME). The organisation’s stated aim is to promote peace and justice in the region through the application of international law and respect for human rights.

Before Politics

Naseem Shah was born in Bradford on 13 November 1973. Her father left when she was six.

Aged 12, Shah was sent to Pakistan by her mother to escape an abusive partner and had an arranged marriage there (aged 15). Her mother was later imprisoned for murdering her abusive partner; Shah campaigned for her release alongside the Southall Black Sisters group.  

Shah later wrote: “I remember the first day I visited my mother at Newhall Prison – when I left it was like leaving a crying child at nursery for the first time. We lost the house, we lost everything and the moving around started all over again.”

Before becoming an MP, Shah was chair of the mental health charity Sharing Voices Bradford.

Shah previously worked as a carer for disabled people, as an NHS commissioner, and as a director for a regional association supporting local councils.  

Personal Life

Shah is a Muslim.

She was injured in a hit and run in the early 2010s, which reportedly causes her ongoing nerve pain.

Trivia

In 2018, Shah attended the House of Commons while in a wheelchair to vote on the EU Withdrawal Bill. This came after a convention allowing MPs to be “nodded through” if they make it onto the parliamentary estate was controversially suspended.

At the time, Shah told the Guardian: “I was in my pyjamas. It felt personally very undignified and very invasive. It was embarrassing. I thought I’d just be able to stay in the back of the car, where I’d made a bed for myself, and be counted there, but the Tories wouldn’t have it.

“By making me go in to vote like that, they stripped me of my dignity.”

Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons, said she was “particularly sorry” that Shah had been “forced to come and vote”.

Leadsom added: “But the fact that she had to come all the way from Bradford when she was clearly so unwell is clearly a matter for the honourable lady’s party.”