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Indian-origin Seema Malhotra, TS Dhesi in new Labour leader’s shadow cabinet
Malhotra is MP from Feltham and Heston, while Dhesi is MP for Slough. They join Lisa Nandy and Preet Kaur Gill in the shadow cabinet.
Labour leader Keir Starmer on Thursday appointed Seema Malhotra and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi to his shadow cabinet to monitor the work of the Boris Johnson government, increasing the number of Indian-origin MPs in the frontline opposition team.
Malhotra is MP from Feltham and Heston, while Dhesi is MP for Slough. They join Lisa Nandy and Preet Kaur Gill in the shadow cabinet, who were earlier appointed as shadow foreign secretary and shadow international development secretary respectively.
Malhotra has been appointed shadow employment minister, while Dhesi, who is the first turban-wearing Sikh MP elected to the House of Commons, is shadow railway minister. Goa-origin Valerie Vaz continues in her role as the shadow leader of the House.
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Starmer said: “This is a new team that will take the Labour Party forward in a new era. Under my leadership, the Labour Party will be utterly focused on working in the national interest, rebuilding people’s trust in our party and winning the next election”.
According to parliamentary rules, the shadow cabinet is the team of senior spokespeople chosen by the leader of the opposition to mirror the cabinet in government. Each member of the shadow cabinet is appointed to lead on a specific policy area for their party and to question and challenge their counterpart in the cabinet.
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In this way the official opposition seeks to present itself as an alternative government-in-waiting, the rules state.
Starmer, who promised to be a rallying figure in the party, defeated Nandy and Rebecca Long-Bailey in the leadership election that was triggered after Corbyn stepped down following the party’s fourth election loss in a row in December.
