LONDON - Preet Kaur Gill the Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston was re-elected unopposedas the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Sikhs yesterdayat its well-attended Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The Sikh Federation (UK) set up the APPG in 2005 and hasbeen providing secretariat support to it for nearly 15 years.  Following the General Election its principal adviser whoacts as the secretariat for the APPG and interface with the Sikh community wroteto each of the 150 MPs that have more than 1,000 Sikh constituentsthat the Sikh community will be looking to work on Sikh issues in the SikhManifesto 2020-2025 in the next 5 years. 

In the 10 days leading up to the AGM dozensof MPs from different political parties have come forward to become members ofthe APPG for British Sikhs.  Photographsthat have emerged from the meeting show there was unprecedented interest in joiningand taking up an office bearer positions in the APPG with standing room only.

Supporting Preet Kaur Gill will be five Vice-Chairs from theConservative Party, five Vice-Chairs from the Labour Party and threeVice-Chairs from the Scottish National Party as follows:

Five Conservative Vice Chairs:

  1.     Stuart Anderson,Wolverhampton South West MP
  2.     Eddie Hughes, WalsallNorth MP   
  3.     Joy Morrissey, BeaconsfieldMP
  4.     Nicola Richards, WestBromwich East MP
  5.     Lord Ranbir Singh Suri

Five Labour Vice Chairs:

  1.     Tanmanjeet SinghDhesi, Slough MP
  2.     Kate Green, Stretfordand Urmston MP
  3.     Pat McFadden, WolverhamptonMP
  4.     John Spellar, WarleyMP
  5.     West Streeting,Ilford North MP

Three Scottish National Party (SNP) ViceChairs:

  1.     MartinDocherty-Hughes, West Dunbartonshire MP
  2.     Kirsten Oswald, EastRenfrewshire MP
  3.     Alison Thewliss,Glasgow Central MP

Others that attended the meeting included:

  1.     Collen Fletcher, LabourMP for Coventry North East
  2.     Imran Hussain, LabourMP for Bradford East
  3.     Khalid Mahmood, LabourMP for Birmingham Perry Barr
  4.     Caroline Nokes, ConservativeMP Romsey and Southampton North
  5.     Taiwo Owatemi, Labour MP Coventry North West
  6.     Amanda Solloway,Conservative MP for Derby North
  7.     Valerie Vaz, LabourMP for Walsall South
  8.     Matt Western, LabourMP for Warwick and Leamington
  9.     Lord Indarjit Singh
  10. Lord Rami Ranger

The APPG discussedseveral of its priorities, including:

  •       helpingsecure the option of a Sikh ethnic tick box response in the Census 2021 whereEddie Hughes the Conservative MP for Walsall North has arranged for adelegation of Conservative MPs to meet the Cabinet Office Minister responsiblefor the census
  •       issuesconcerning the 5 Kakaars and Sikh dastaar
  •       hatecrimes targeting Sikhs
  •       humanrights cases like that of Jagtar Singh Johal; and
  •       theUN Security Council looking into the 1984 Sikh Genocide.

The Sikh Federation (UK) is the largest, most prominent and influential campaigning Sikh organisation in the UK that leads on political engagement for the British Sikh community.  The organisation is often referred to as the first and only Sikh political party. The Sikh community in the UK and throughout the Diaspora look to the organisation for leadership and direction.