“If she can do it, so can I”: New SNP MP Anum Qaisar-Javed says she wants to be a role model for other minorities | Political news

The new SNP MP in Westminster said she hopes to be a role model for other minorities after triumphing in a parliamentary by-election.

Anum Qaisar-Javed won the Airdrie and Shotts contest sparked by former MP Neil Gray’s decision to leave the Commons and run for a seat in the Scottish Parliament.

Speaking after the announcement of her victory, Ms Javed pledged to “fight for independence” from Scotland.

SNP leader and Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon pushes for a second independence referendum, saying Boris Johnson must accept another vote is a “matter of when, not if” now that the separatist parties hold the majority in Holyrood.

Ms Javed held the SNP seat with a reduced majority – from 5,201 in 2019 to 1757.

She received 10,129 votes, with Labor candidate Kenneth Stevenson second with 8,372 votes.

Conservative candidate Ben Callaghan was third with 2,812 votes, while Liberal Democrat Stephen Arrundale was fourth with 220 votes.

The participation rate was 34.3%.

Ms Javed acknowledged that this was a “low” figure, but said she was proud of the SNP’s record in the region and that she was “proud to have been elected Member of Parliament for Airdrie and Shotts”.

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Her victory came at the heels of the Scottish Parliament which swore in the most diverse group of MPs in its history, with women of color taking seats in Holyrood for the first time.

Ms Javed said she taught her students – she is a professor of modern studies – why there are fewer ethnic minorities in politics.

“We are talking about reasons like the lack of role models, and it took until 2021, but now we have two women of color in the Scottish Parliament,” she …