Uma Kumaran is the Labour MP for Stratford and Bow, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Kumaran received 19,145 votes, representing 44.1% of the vote share. The Green Party candidate, Joe Hudson-Small, received 7,511 votes (17.3%), while the Workers Party of Britain candidate, Halima Khan, secured 3,274 votes (7.5%). Kumaran was duly elected with a majority of 11,634.

The Stratford and Bow constituency is located in East London and was newly created ahead of the 2024 general election. It was formed from parts of the former West Ham, Bethnal Green and Bow, and Poplar and Limehouse constituencies.

Political Career

Kumaran currently serves as parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and assistant whip. She was appointed to these roles in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

In February 2026, Kumaran expressed reservations about the government’s proposed overhaul of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) guidelines in a Westminster Hall debate. The session, which was triggered by two public petitions signed by over 330,000 people, focused on Home Office proposals to replace the established five-year pathway to permanent residency (also known as indefinite leave to remain or settlement) with a 10-year baseline under an “earned settlement” model.

In the debate, Kumaran suggested that changing the qualifying periods risked impacting health and social care recruitment. She argued that “changes to ILR qualifying periods must not risk impacting sectors where we currently rely heavily on the talents of dedicated international workers”.

In May 2026, Kumaran criticised the government’s messaging on migration as being “too timid”.

Speaking on a panel at the 2026 Progress/progressive Britain conference, Kumaran said: “We’ve alienated people on the left, and we’ve alienated those who want us to take a more extreme position. Most people are somewhere in the middle… We have not had people who are willing to have these types of conversations.”

She added: “I’ve offered to have these conversations, I’ve offered to do the media round on migration and immigration. Because what’s a more powerful story? The daughter of refugees who says ‘I acknowledge that there are pressures in this country’.”

Kumaran sat as member of the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee (2024-2026).

Kumaran is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for ethics and sustainability in fashion (chair), United Nations (chair), international conservation, Tamils and waterways.

Kumaran delivered her maiden speech on 5 September 2024 during a debate on the Great British Energy Bill.

In it, she said: “I am proud, too, to have origins as an east London girl born in Homerton hospital, but I was born here but by fate. I am the daughter of Tamil refugees and the child of a community that knows what it is like to endure prejudice and persecution.

“My parents, proud and patriotic British citizens, came to Britain over 40 years ago, but they did not simply come here; they fled for their lives, forced to leave behind everything and everyone they knew and loved, torn from a good and prosperous life in their prime to start from scratch in an unfamiliar country, working multiple jobs day and night to give me the chances that were taken from them.”

She added: “I pledge to work day in, day out to tackle the root causes of poverty, to fight for more police on our streets so that women and girls feel safe to walk home at night, parents do not have to worry about knife crime and young men are not having to look over their shoulders when they walk home after dark, and to fight for an NHS that is here for us in our time of need, where patients can be seen in wards, not corridors.”

Kumaran previously stood as the Labour candidate for Harrow East in the 2015 general election.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Kumaran was one of 117 Labour MPs who nominated Lucy Powell for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Powell, the former leader of the House of Commons, was seen as a candidate representing the party’s “soft left”; she was supported by leading soft left figures including Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham. She secured 117 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), above the 80 required, and went on to win the election – defeating Bridget Phillipson with 54.3% of the vote.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Kumaran voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare 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

Kumaran 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).

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Kumaran 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

Born in East London, Kumaran grew up in Harrow, North West London. She is the daughter of Tamil refugees who fled the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Kumaran attended Bentley Wood High School and St Dominic’s Sixth Form College.

Kumaran studied politics at Queen Mary University of London and subsequently obtained a master’s degree in public policy from the same institution.

Kumaran worked in political advisory and strategy roles. She worked briefly for NHS Professionals (2007-2009) and as a researcher and caseworker for Labour MP Dawn Butler (2009-2010).

Kumaran worked for the Labour Group on Islington Council between 2010 and 2014.

She was a senior adviser to the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, from 2017 to 2020, and later deputy director of parliamentary affairs in Labour leader Keir Starmer’s office (2020-2022).

Personal Life

Kumaran is married. Her husband, Jacob, suffered a stroke shortly after the 2024 general election.

Trivia

Kumaran is the first MP of Tamil heritage.

Her parents’ immigration case was assisted by Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn.

She has stated: “My parents fled to Britain in the midst of a civil war, Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn worked tirelessly to help them settle here. They have since worked hard to rebuild their lives and raise a family in Harrow.”