The elections in 2010 are an important point in the continuing development of the Muslim community in Britain. They come after ‘the Bush years’ during which the Muslim community was under intense scrutiny. Political representation during this period however was low and in many cases ineffective. This is seeming to change now with large numbers of Muslims standing as candidates for the three main parties in constituencies across the country. The Liberal Democrats unfortunately have yet to select a Muslim for a strong Liberal Democrat seat, but the other two main parties have selected many candidates including some returning candidates for Labour which means that there are strong possibilities for the numbers of Muslims in parliament to rise on May 6th. This has to be good for democracy.

Sadiq Khan and Shahid Malik are two Labour MPs that are seeking to be re-elected for Tooting and Dewsbury respectively. Both have strong chances of winning their seats but both have tough fights on their hands as well. Yasmin Qureshi has been selected as the Labour candidate for Bolton South East and Rushanara Ali has been selected for Bethnal Green and Bow where she is being challenged by Abjol Miah for Respect and Ajmal Masroor for the Liberal Democrats. Maryam Khan has been selected as the Labour candidate for Bury North. Anas Sarwar for Labour is fighting Osama Saeed of the Scottish National Party for Glasgow Central. Salma Yaqoob is standing for Respect in Birmingham Hall Green and has a good chance of winning. Shabana Mahmood is standing as the Labour candidate for Birmingham Ladywood. Bassam Mahfouz could also take Ealing Central and Naz Sarkar could take Reading, both for Labour. On the Conservative side, Sajid Javaid has been selected for a safe Tory seat and Zahid Iqbal has a strong chance of winning in Bradford West against Marsha Singh. Nadhim Zahawi, formerly of Yougov, has been selected as the Tory candidate for Stratford-on-Avon. There is the potential therefore for the Muslim number of Mps to double at this election, though the actual number of Mps required for Muslims to be fairly represented in parliament is 19. All-in-all, Labour have put forward 16 prospective parliamentary candidates, The Tories have also put forward 16 candidates, and the Liberal Democrats have put forward 20 possible candidate. However, the majority from all three parties have been selected for seats in which they cannot win.

As Khalid Mahmood, who is also seeking re-election, has aptly demonstrated, representation does not mean influence. However, it is in my view immature to view Muslim politics solely through the lens of the number of Muslim MPs. This is because Muslim politics if there is such a thing cannot be pursued solely through the numbers of Muslims in parliament. There are other ways to seek influence which are equally if not more important. For example, it is possible that there could a constituent in a seat for a current Labour Cabinet member who is a member of the Labour party and has good personal relations with the MP, hypothetically, one could think of Douglas Alexander. This constituent maybe more influential through the advice given to Douglas Alexander than the Muslim MP who sits on the backbenches. Similarly, there may be a figure in British politics who is regarded as credible and respected, and who may listen to Muslim concerns and advocate on our behalf. David Davies who stood down as Shadow Home Secretary on principle comes to mind. This contituent will be much more influential in pursuit of Muslim concerns than a backbencher Muslim MP. Even a Muslim MP will have little credibility within his party if all he does is argue the case for his community if that is how he chooses to respond to the burden of representation. He would need to have a much wider political portfolio which represents the concerns of all of his constituents. So, representation in parliament is important for democracy, and it is up to the political parties as gatekeepers on this to facilitate this. However, this doesn’t mean that we have somehow achieved political influence. Rather, it may just be a mirage. Political influence may lie elsewhere.