Most Indian-origin MPs voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal
Parliamentary records show that two Conservative Indian origin MPs, Alok Sharma and Rishi Sunak (son-in-law of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy), voted in favour of the May’s Brexit deal.
All seven Indian-origin Labour MPs and three from the ruling Conservative party voted against UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement on Tuesday — two voted in favour: Alok Sharma and Rishi Sunak, parliamentary records show.
While Sharma is the minister of state for employment, Sunak (son-in-law of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy) is a junior minister in the department of housing, communities and local government.
The three Conservative MPs who voted against their leader’s agreement were Priti Patel, Shailesh Vara and Suella Braverman. Vara and Braverman resigned from their ministerial posts last November when the agreement was published.
Senior Labour MP Virendra Sharma said after the agreement was overwhelmingly voted down 432 to 202: “This evening has proven that there is no majority in parliament for the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal and there isn’t one for a no-deal Brexit either”.
“The Prime Minister has no support for her deal, so Labour should now renegotiate the deal based on our six tests. If she won’t stand aside, she should let the people decide instead and hold a second referendum, with remain as an option.”
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Besides Sharma, the six Labour MPs who voted against the agreement in the House of Commons were Keith Vaz, Lisa Nandy, Seema Malhotra, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Preet Kaur Gill and Valerie Vaz.
The cohort of 12 elected in the 2017 mid-term elections represents the largest number of Indian-origin MPs elected in British parliamentary history: seven from Labour and five from the ruling Conservative party.