Hina Bokhari

Last updated

Martin Cooper
​
(m. 2008)​
.
Hina Bokhari
AM
Hina Bokhari 1.jpg
Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London Assembly
Assumed office
9 May 2024 [1]
Children2

Hina Bokhari (born 10 August 1975), is a British Liberal Democrat politician serving as a Member of the London Assembly since 2021. [2] She has served as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London Assembly since May 2024.

Contents

Early life and career

Born in Enfield, north London, she is the daughter of Nawazish "Naz" Bokhari and Rizwana Bokhari and is of Pakistani descent. [3] Her Punjabi-born father Naz was the first British Muslim to run a secondary school in the UK; he was headteacher of Ernest Bevin College and was appointed OBE for services to education in the 2001 Birthday Honours. Current London Mayor Sadiq Khan was one of his students [4] [5]

Hina's younger brother, Harris Bokhari, is a charity founder . [6] [7] [8]

Prior to becoming politically active, Bokhari worked as a teacher for 20 years in London schools. She has also founded two youth focused charities. [9]

Political career

Bokhari joined the Liberal Democrats in 2017, standing for election to Merton Council in 2018 and winning her seat, becoming the first Muslim woman elected in Merton. She was re-elected as a Councillor in 2022. [9]

In 2018, she came fifth in the members ballot for the Liberal Democrat list for the 2020 London Assembly election (postponed until 2021 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic). However, she was promoted to second-place on the list because she was from an ethnic minority. [10]

Bokhari was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the marginal Sutton and Cheam constituency in the 2019 general election, she finished second behind the Conservative Party incumbent, Paul Scully, who won the seat with a majority of 8,351. [11]

On 6 May 2021, Bokhari was elected as a Member of the London Assembly. [12] She was the first Liberal Democrat to win a seat on the London Assembly since 2004. She was also one of the first Muslim women ever to be elected to the London Assembly alongside Marina Ahmad AM and Sakina Sheikh AM. [13]

Upon taking up her seat on the London Assembly, Bokhari sits on the Environment Committee, Economy Committee, the Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning (FREP) Committee and the Cost of Living Working Group. She served as the Chair of the Economy Committee from 2022 to 2023.

Hina Bokhari was re-selected in 2023 to run for the London Assembly again by the Liberal Democrats for the next London Assembly elections coming first in the members' ballot meaning she will top the list for the Party. [14]

Having been successfully re-elected in the 2024 London Assembly Election, Bokhari took over from Caroline Pidgeon as Group Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the Assembly. She now sits on the Fire Committee, Transport Committee, Economy Committee and Oversight Committee. She will chair the Fire Committee for the 2024-25 term.[ citation needed ]

Views

As a member of the Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning (FREP) Committee, Bokhari has campaigned for action to tackle the building safety and cladding crisis in London and for action to reduce the amount of lithium-ion battery fires being caused by faulty E-bikes and E-scooters across the City. [15] [16]

Bokhari has campaigned for cleaner air in London and is a keen supporter of cargo bikes, calling for more to be done to support businesses in London to transition to them for moving goods around London. [17] Bokhari has also called for more to be done to raise awareness of the dangers to public health caused by wood burning in London. [18]

Bokhari has criticized Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan for campaigning to reduce air pollution, but supporting Silvertown Tunnel and having greenlit London City Airport expansion, two projects that would dramatically increase air pollution in Newham, already one of the most polluted parts of the UK and one of London's most diverse and deprived communities. [19]

Apart from air pollution, Bokhari has called for the UK Government to do more to tackle water pollution and to prevent raw sewage being dumped in the River Thames and its tributaries. Bokhari has also called for the power to fine water companies for polluting rivers to be devolved from the UK Government to the GLA, as in other major cities around the world and for the Mayor of London to take action by planting more trees to prevent the flooding and overflow of sewage drains during periods of heavy rain. [20]

Personal life

In 2008, Bokhari married Martin Cooper and the couple have two children, a son and daughter. Outside of politics, Bokhari lists her interests as baking, "playing board games with my kids," and "spending time with friends and family." [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Assembly</span> Elected body in London, England

The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject the Mayor's draft statutory strategies. The London Assembly was established in 2000. It is also able to investigate other issues of importance to Londoners, publish its findings and recommendations, and make proposals to the Mayor.

In British politics, a Lib–Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny Randerson, Baroness Randerson</span> British Liberal Democrat politician and life peer

Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson, Baroness Randerson is a Welsh Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. She is a former junior minister in the Wales Office serving in the Cameron–Clegg coalition. Prior to her peerage she was an Assembly Member for Cardiff Central from 1999 to 2011 when she served in the Welsh Labour-Lib Dem administration of the 2000–2003 Welsh Assembly Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirsty Williams</span> Former Welsh Liberal Democrat politician and former Minister for Education

Victoria Kirstyn Williams is a Welsh politician who served as Minister for Education in the Welsh Government from 2016 to 2021. She was a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 1999 to 2021. She previously served as the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from December 2008 to May 2016 and subsequently from June 2017 to November 2017 in an acting capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Pidgeon</span> British politician

Caroline Valerie Pidgeon is a British former politician who served as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London Assembly from 2010 to 2024, and Londonwide Member of the London Assembly (AM) from 2008 to 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal Democrats (UK)</span> British political party

The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1988. They have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election. They have 15 members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 84 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has over 3000 local council seats, the third largest of the British political parties. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated. In contrast to its main opponents' conference rules, the Lib Dems grant all members attending its Conference the right to speak in debates and vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system. The party also allows its members to vote online for its policies and in the election of a new leader. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007; and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Layla Moran</span> English Liberal Democrat politician

Layla Michelle Moran is a British Liberal Democrat politician serving as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and International Development since 2020, and serving as the Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon since 2017.

The English Liberal Democrats, officially the Liberal Democrats in England, is the state party within the Liberal Democrats that operates in England. It is a federation of the eleven regional parties in England and the English branch of the youth and student organisation. The regions are further divided into local parties. The party currently holds 11 of the 533 English seats in the House of Commons and two of the 25 seats in the London Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siobhan Benita</span> British civil servant (born 1971)

Siobhan Benita is a British former civil servant. She was an independent candidate in the 2012 London mayoral election. She was then the Liberal Democrat candidate in the London mayoral election originally planned for 2020, but after the election was delayed to 2021, she withdrew as the candidate.

Rabina Khan is a Bangladeshi-born British writer, politician, former councillor for Shadwell and Cabinet Member for Housing in Tower Hamlets Council, community worker and author of Ayesha's Rainbow. In 2015, she unsuccessfully contested the Tower Hamlets Mayoral Election. She was the leader of the People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets, but joined the Liberal Democrats on 29 August 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 London mayoral election</span> London mayoral election

The 2016 London mayoral election was held on 5 May 2016 to elect the Mayor of London, on the same day as the London Assembly election. It was the fifth election to the position of mayor, which was created in 2000 following a referendum in Greater London. The election used a supplementary vote system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Liberal Democrats</span> London branch of the Liberal Democrats

The London Liberal Democrats are the regional party of the Liberal Democrats that operates in Greater London. The organisation is associated with the English Liberal Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 London mayoral election</span> London mayoral election

The 2021 London mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of London. It was held simultaneously with elections for the London Assembly, other local elections across England and Wales, and devolved elections in Scotland and Wales. The mayoral and Assembly elections were to be held on 7 May 2020, but in March 2020 the government announced the election would be postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 London Assembly election</span> Delayed London local elections (held in 2021 rather than as planned in 2020)

The 2021 London Assembly election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the members of the London Assembly, alongside the 2021 London mayoral election. The mayoral and Assembly elections were originally to be held on 7 May 2020, but on 13 March 2020 it was announced the election would be postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the sixth election since the Assembly was established in 2000. Due to the previous term being extended to 5 years, those elected would only serve a three-year term until the next election in 2024. The election was held on the same day in 2021 as other elections in the UK; the UK local elections, Scottish Parliament election, and Welsh Senedd election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Hall</span> British politician (born 1955)

Susan Mary Hall is a British politician who has served as a Member of the London Assembly since 2017 and a councillor on Harrow London Borough Council since 2006. She was leader of the London Conservatives on the London Assembly from December 2019 until May 2023. Hall was the Conservative Party candidate for the 2024 London mayoral election, finishing in second place behind incumbent mayor Sadiq Khan.

Harris Bokhari is the founder and a trustee at the Patchwork Foundation, for which he won the Diversity Champion of the Year Award in early 2018. The Patchwork Foundation promotes the positive integration of disadvantaged and minority communities into British democracy and civil society."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luisa Porritt</span> British Liberal Democrat politician

Luisa Manon Porritt is a British Liberal Democrat politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irina von Wiese</span> British politician

Irina Stephanie von Wiese und Kaiserswaldau is a British politician, who was a Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London between 2019 and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Portsmouth City Council election</span> 2021 UK local government election

Elections to Portsmouth City Council took place on Thursday 6 May 2021, alongside other local elections across the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 London mayoral election</span> Voting for the Greater London Authoritys head

The 2024 London mayoral election was held on 2 May 2024 to elect the next mayor of London. It took place simultaneously with elections to the London Assembly, some local council by-elections in London and regular local elections elsewhere in England and Wales. Following the Elections Act 2022, voting in this election took place under the first-past-the-post system for the first time, replacing the supplementary vote system. The results of the election were announced on 4 May 2024.

References

  1. ↑ White, Nadine (9 May 2024). "Hina Bokhari becomes first ethnic minority woman to lead a group at City Hall as Lib Dem leader". The Independent. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  2. ↑ "Bokhari, Hina, (born 10 Aug. 1975), Member (Lib Dem), London Assembly, Greater London Authority, since 2021". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2022. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u296006. ISBN   978-0-19-954088-4 . Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "Hina Bokhari is the first female Muslim-Pakistani elected member in London". Global Village Space. 31 May 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  4. ↑ Bloom, Adi (22 April 2011). "Obituary - Naz Bokhari, 1937-2011" . Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  5. ↑ "Nawazish Bokhari". The Times. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Bokhari, Hina, (born 10 Aug. 1975), Member (Lib Dem), London Assembly, Greater London Authority, since 2021". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2022. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u296006. ISBN   978-0-19-954088-4 . Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  7. ↑ White, Nadine (1 May 2021). "'Sad but exciting' to break barriers, says first London Assembly Muslim woman hopeful". The Independent. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  8. ↑ "Hina Bokhari". Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  9. 1 2 "Hina Bokhari". London Liberal Democrats.
  10. ↑ "Lib Dems announce results for London Assembly list selection". 21 November 2018.
  11. ↑ "Sutton and Cheam - 2019 General Election Results" . Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  12. ↑ "Results 2021". London Elects.
  13. ↑ "'Sad but exciting' to break barriers, says first London Assembly Muslim woman hopeful". The Independent. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  14. ↑ Pack, Mark (13 May 2023). "Lib Dem London Assembly list candidates announced". Mark Pack. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  15. ↑ Toms, Adam (30 June 2023). "Londoners 'trapped in potentially unsafe homes' amid call to blacklist developer". MyLondon. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  16. ↑ "Call for e-bike and e-scooter battery safety campaign after London Fire Brigade reports spike in call outs". electric bike reviews, buying advice and news - ebiketips. 1 April 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  17. ↑ "Mayor urged to help businesses swap from diesel vans to cargo bikes". BBC News. 18 April 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  18. ↑ Ungoed-Thomas, Jon; King, Skyler (22 July 2023). "Sadiq Khan in U-turn on 'eco' wood-burners amid pollution fears". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  19. ↑ Mortimer, Josiah (31 May 2023). "Sadiq Khan's Pollution Paradox: On the Silvertown Tunnel, and When Rhetoric Doesn't Match Action". Byline Times. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  20. ↑ Toms, Adam (25 June 2023). "London water firms slammed as city's rivers see nearly 2,000 sewage dumps". MyLondon. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.