Zarah Sultana

Zarah Sultana
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament
for Coventry South
Incumbent
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byJim Cunningham
Majority10,201 (23.9%)
Chairperson of the Socialist Campaign Group
In office
6 May 2020 – 28 February 2025
Preceded byLloyd Russell-Moyle and Richard Burgon[1]
Personal details
Born (1993-10-31) 31 October 1993
Lozells, Birmingham, England
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Labour Party (2010–2025)
Socialist Campaign Group
Alma materUniversity of Birmingham (BA)
Signature
Websitezarahsultana.com

Zarah Sultana (born 31 October 1993)[2] is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry South since 2019. She was a Labour Party MP until the whip was suspended in July 2024, when she became one of seven Labour MPs who voted to scrap the two-child benefit cap.[3]

She resigned her Labour Party membership on 3 July 2025, seeking to form a new left-wing political party with the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.[4] On the political left, she was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group and its chairperson from 2020 to 2025.[5][6]

Early life and education

Zarah Sultana was born in Birmingham on 31 October 1993 to a Muslim family of Pakistani ancestry, and was raised with her three sisters in Lozells.[5][7] Her grandfather migrated from Thub in the Dadyal Tehsil of the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir to Birmingham in the 1960s.[8]

Sultana attended Holte School, a non-selective community school,[9] before studying at the selective King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for sixth form.[9] In an interview in 2024 she said that at the age of 17, during a visit to the West Bank and Jerusalem, she observed a military court trial conducted by occupation authorities.[10] She went on to study international relations and economics at the University of Birmingham.[11]

Sultana joined the Labour Party in 2011, whilst studying for her A-levels, following the coalition government's decision to treble university tuition fees to £9,000.[12] Whilst at university, Sultana was elected to the National Executive Councils of both Young Labour and the National Union of Students.[13] In 2018 she was the Parliamentary Officer for the group Muslim Engagement and Development.[14][15]

Parliamentary career

2019 European Parliament election campaign

Sultana was listed fifth of seven among the Labour candidates for the 2019 European Parliament election in the West Midlands constituency, meaning that she would be elected if Labour received enough votes in the region to appoint five members of the European Parliament (MEPs). She was not elected, as Labour won only one MEP in the constituency.[16][17]

2019 general election campaign

In October 2019 she was selected as the Labour candidate for Coventry South[5] after the incumbent Labour MP, Jim Cunningham, announced he would not contest the election.[18] Her campaign was backed by Unite the Union, Momentum, the Fire Brigades Union, the Communication Workers Union and the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union.[5] However, her selection was opposed by some local Constituency Labour Party (CLP) members, who preferred local candidates; one member would tell Jewish News in 2021 that the CLP was "remarkably moderate" in comparison to Sultana.[19][20] Sultana was elected at the 2019 general election with a majority of 401 votes.[21]

During the 2019 election campaign the BBC reported that in 2015, whilst a student, Sultana made social media posts from an account she had deleted which implied that she would celebrate the deaths of the former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the former US president George W. Bush, and that she supported "violent resistance" by Palestinians.[13] As a teenager, Sultana made posts on Twitter telling someone whom she described as pro-Israel to "jump off a cliff", and that civilian deaths from the wars and genocides in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Chechnya were atrocities akin to the deaths of civilians in the Holocaust. In tweets, Sultana used phrases such as "YT" (used to avoid social media censorship[22]) and "the white woman". Sultana apologised for the posts and stated that she no longer held those views and "wrote them out of frustration rather than any malice" as she had felt "exasperated by endless cycles of global suffering, violence and needless killing". Since this, she has been committed to making amends, attending interfaith conferences and travelling to Auschwitz with an anti-fascist delegation.[23][24][7] The Labour Party re-interviewed Sultana following this, and she remained the party's candidate.[25] After her election, The Jewish Chronicle reported that in 2015, Sultana made social media posts that students who supported Zionism should be "ashamed", as the state of Israel has "over 50 laws discriminating against Palestinians" and "It is not progressive to champion a state created through ethnic cleansing, sustained through occupation, apartheid and war crimes."[26].

2019–2024, Parliament

Shortly after being elected as an MP, Sultana joined the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group[27] and in the 2020 Labour leadership election, nominated Rebecca Long-Bailey for leader and Richard Burgon for deputy leader.[28][29]

In January 2020 Sultana was appointed parliamentary private secretary to Dan Carden, the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.[30] She was removed from this role by Keir Starmer when he became the party leader in April 2020.[31]

In September 2020 Sultana was one of seven Labour MPs voting in favour of a ten minute rule bill to provide for the recall of Members of the House of Commons who changed their political party affiliation.[32] The Bill ran out of parliamentary time in May 2021 and was not passed,[33] so that when Sultana subsequently switched her affiliation without resigning her seat in July 2025 she was not subject to recall.

In December 2020 UNICEF announced a £25,000 grant to provide breakfast boxes to vulnerable children in Southwark, London, a move criticised by the Leader of the House of Commons at the time, Jacob Rees-Mogg, as a "political stunt", but defended by Sultana, who reportedly sent him a copy of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol in response.[34][35]

In April 2021 Sultana was profiled by Marie Le Conte for Vogue magazine, along with her Labour colleagues Charlotte Nichols, Taiwo Owatemi, and Sarah Owen. She spoke about the abuse she receives as a Muslim and as a woman of colour, including death threats and being told to 'go back to her own country'. Sultana was described as "one of the most left-wing new Labour MPs" who had "made a name for herself as an outspoken critic of the Government".[7] In September 2021 Sultana broke down in tears during a debate in Parliament recounting the "Islamophobic hate" she had been subject to since being elected.[36]

In May 2021, alongside celebrities and other public figures, Sultana was a signatory to an open letter published in Stylist magazine which called on the government to address what it described as an "epidemic of male violence" by funding an "ongoing, high-profile, expert-informed awareness campaign on men's violence against women and girls".[37] In September 2021 Sultana chaired the Fire Brigade Union's Climate Catastrophe: The Case for a Socialist Green New Deal fringe event at the Labour Party conference.[38] In October 2021, she joined cross-party MPs including Caroline Lucas and Clive Lewis to launch the Green New Deal Bill in Parliament, "a game-changing plan to stop climate change and build a world in which we can thrive", which she described in a LabourList article as having "social justice at its heart, putting the interests of the many ahead of the greed of the few."[39][40]

On 24 February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sultana was one of 11 Labour MPs threatened with losing the party whip after they signed a statement by the Stop the War Coalition which questioned the legitimacy of NATO and accused the alliance of "eastward expansion". All 11 MPs subsequently removed their signatures.[41] After receiving a death threat, she criticised what she described as "inaccurate" reports by the media for creating "an active danger to the safety of public figures, and threaten[ing] to narrow our democracy". In a statement to The Guardian she said she "unequivocally condemned" the actions of the Russian government in Ukraine. She also criticised an anonymous Labour source who described the 11 MPs as a "mouthpiece for the Kremlin", and said that she had complained to the party chair, Anneliese Dodds, about party sources disseminating "dangerous and irresponsible messages".[42][43]

In March 2022 Sultana pledged to donate her upcoming £2,212 pay rise to Coventry Foodbank and local charities in the city "supporting refugees, to help Ukrainians and all those fleeing brutal war".[44] She also organised a crowdfunding campaign for Coventry Foodbank which raised £10,000,[45] which equated to over five tonnes of food.[46] She delivered a speech in Parliament on the cost-of-living crisis in May 2022.[47]

In October 2022 Sultana was re-selected as the Labour Party MP for her constituency,[48] after receiving 90% of the vote from six local branches of the party and support from all participating affiliate organisations.[49] In November 2022 she addressed the picket line during the University and College Union (UCU) strikes on the University of Warwick campus.[50]

In December 2022, when over 2,000 firefighters and control staff attended a rally in Westminster to protest low pay, Sultana addressed the crowd alongside Jeremy Corbyn and Matt Wrack.[51] In 2023 she opposed the Strike (Minimum Service Levels) Bill and was chair of the Fire Brigades Union parliamentary group.[52]

2024–onwards, Parliament

At the 2024 general election she was returned and increased her majority from 401 to over 10,000, receiving 20,361 votes.[53][54]

During the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, she developed a significant media presence commenting on the situation in Gaza and criticising UK arms exports to Israel. During this time, she has become the MP receiving the most death threats and online abuse.[10][55] Sultana has repeatedly condemned the October 7 attacks by Hamas on southern Israel and has also urged the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.[56]

On 23 July 2024 she, along with six other Labour MPs, had the whip withdrawn for voting against the government and in favour of a Scottish National Party amendment to end the two-child benefit cap.[57][3][58] She said that "I have to stand up for what I believe are the true values of the Labour Party and in doing so I've made difficult decisions in terms of defying the whip."[59] Although the suspensions were initially said to be for six months, Sultana (along with John McDonnell and Apsana Begum) had still not had the whip restored by the time of her resignation from the party in July 2025. In September 2024 Sultana voted against the Labour government and in favour of a motion to block the proposed cut in Winter Fuel Payment.[59]

In June 2025 she voted against the Bill to introduce assisted dying into England and Wales and that was aimed at providing medical help to those wanting to end their own lives as a result of terminal illness.[60]

Sultana resigned her Labour Party membership in July 2025, and announced she would be joining Jeremy Corbyn MP, who had previously led the Labour Party, in forming a new left-wing political party.[4][61] Corbyn was reported to be "bewildered" due to not having been consulted about the announcement; a source close to Corbyn said that a new party, or movement, was on the cards, but Sultana had "jumped the gun".[62] However, on his own social media, Corbyn said that "discussions were ongoing" and expressed his delight that "[Sultana] will help us build a real alternative [to current political parties]".[63]

Recognition

In March 2022 Sultana received an MP of the Year Award from the Patchwork Foundation, celebrating her work championing "underrepresented and disadvantaged communities across the UK."[64] She also presented the Campaigner of the Year award at the PinkNews Awards to Nemat Sadat, an Afghan-American queer activist and novelist.[65]

Also in 2022, a photograph of Sultana featured in the Creative Connections Coventry exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, which celebrated cultural and political figures with connections to the city.[66] In 2023 she was nominated for a "Backbencher of the Year" award by the public relations firm Pagefield, and shortly afterwards she received a "Coventry Legends Award" by Coventry United Women's Football Club in recognition of her work "as a committed champion of Coventry" and "for being an amazing female role model."[67][68][69]

In May 2023 she was ranked 47th on the New Statesman's "left power list", which described her as a "rare" "genuinely viral politician".[70] She says social media is "really effective in reaching out to newer audiences, younger audiences and getting out political messages".[71]

Personal life

Sultana is married to a senior policy advisor to the Fire Brigades Union.[72][73] She is a practising Muslim.[74]

References

  1. ^ Russell-Moyle, Lloyd (4 May 2020). "Where the Socialist Campaign Group should go next for a unified left". LabourList.
  2. ^ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : The definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  3. ^ a b Elgot, Jessica (23 July 2024). "Labour suspends seven rebels who voted to scrap two-child benefit cap". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  4. ^ a b @zarahsultana (3 July 2025). "Today, after 14 years, I'm resigning from the Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other Independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country. Join us. The time is now" (Tweet). Retrieved 3 July 2025 – via Twitter.
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  71. ^ "TikTok good for reaching younger people, Coventry MP Zarah Sultana says". BBC News. 19 March 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  72. ^ @zarahsultana (6 June 2025). "For the record:" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 July 2025 – via Twitter.
  73. ^ @zarahsultana (7 June 2025). "I love trade unions so much, I married someone working for one" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 July 2025 – via Twitter.
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