The daughter of a bus driver from India has become the first female Sikh MP in history.
Labour MP Preet Gill has taken the Birmingham Edgbaston seat to become the first ever female Sikh member of parliament.
Gill, a former Sandwell councillor, won 24,124 votes – increasing the Labour majority to more than 6,900 .
In her acceptance speech Gill said that she was inspired bus driver father who drove the No.11 bus, and ‘he would be proud of had he been here’.
She added: “My father came to this country from India with great aspirations for us all and tonight this is the beginning of a journey that he would have been proud of had he been here.
“The British electorate have made important decisions and it’s now my job to go to Westminster as part of a Labour team for the many, not the few, so thank you.”
The victory came after Brexit architect Gisela Stuart announced her retirement after the snap General Election was announced.
She had previously served Edgbaston as MP since she won the seat in 1997.
Tory candidate Caroline Squire won 17,207 votes, Liberal Democrat Colin Green won 1,564, Alice Giff from Green managed 562 vote and Dick Rogers of the Common Good Party won 155 votes.
The MP said that the most important issues for the area were concerns about cuts to school funding and also to stop the privatisation the NHS.
She added: “It’s been amazing. I really want to thank the people of Edgbaston, Harborne, Quinton and Bartley Green today for electing me as their member of parliament.
“Gisela has been here for 19 years. We want to build on the amazing work she’s done in this constituency, and we are now celebrating 20 years of Labour here in Edgbaston.”
Caroline Squire congratulated Preet Gill on her win and told the Mail that the campaign had been ‘an amazing experience’, and that the Conservative campaign ‘worked their socks off’ and didn’t think that they could have done any more.
