Nusrat Munir Ul-Ghani MP

Nusrat Munir Ul-Ghani is the British Conservative Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wealden in East Sussex. She currently serves as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Transport and Assistant Government Whip.

Nusrat Ghani was born in Birmingham on 1st September 1972, with parental roots from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. She was educated in state schools before studying at Birmingham City University, and after graduating, for a master's degree at Leeds University. Before beginning her career in politics, she was employed by the charities Age UK and Breakthrough Breast Cancer, and later for the BBC World Service. Nusrat Ghani first stood as a parliamentary candidate for Birmingham Ladywood at the 2010 general election.

Nusrat Ghani's selection in December 2013 was at an open primary in which anyone listed on the electoral register in Wealden was eligible to attend and vote for their preferred candidate. The primary attracted nearly 400 residents from around the constituency. The sitting MP, Charles Hendry, had announced his retirement at the next election.

In the 2015 general election Nusrat Ghani became the first female MP to hold the seat of Wealden in East Sussex. She was elected with a majority of 22,967. In July 2015, she was appointed as a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

In the 2017 general election Nusrat Ghani won 61.2% of the votes in Wealden, increasing her majority to 23,628. In July 2017, Ghani was promoted to Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Home Office. She was involved in producing reports on a number of different issues covering home affairs, security, hate crime, policing and immigration.

In 2016, Nusrat Ghani worked with Barnardo's, the UK's oldest children's charity to undertake an independent inquiry tackling harmful child sexual behaviour. In 2017, she was promoted to Chair the Government's Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network.

In 2018, Nusrat Ghani became the first Muslim woman minister to speak from the House of Commons Dispatch box. She accused Sir John Sawers, ex-MI6 chief, of providing only ‘gloom and doom’ about Brexit.

A century after a women got the vote for the first time, today young people can see that regardless of their background, heritage or faith there will be a warm welcome on the green benches, and no matter where you are from you can achieve your dreams and ambitions.

While feeling honoured and privileged to serve as a Government Minister, Nusrat Ghani’s priority remains to serve the people of Wealden, being their voice in Parliament. The issues she raise in Parliament are the ones that matter most to the people of Wealden.