Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh is the Scottish National Party (SNP) MP for Ochil and South Perthshire. She was elected in the general election in May 2015 defeating a long standing Labour Party MP. She gained 46% of the vote share and a majority of 10,168 over Gordon Banks who previously served the constituency from 2005-2015. [1]
The result highlights a significant surge in popularity for the SNP, with Sheikh being just one of fifty six SNP MP's to have been successfully elected in the 2015 general election.
Background
She was active in the Scottish Conservative Party from the age of 10 and a member from the age of 16, [2] influenced by her father's role as a councillor who was elected in Scotland in 1986 for the New Town/Stockbridge ward on Lothian Regional Council. However, in 2000 she resigned from the party following William Hague's so-called 'right-wing' pronouncement on asylum seekers, [3] then declaring that she would join the SNP.
Before working in politics, Sheikh was an equity partner and solicitor at Hamilton Burns WS, a solicitors firm in Glasgow.
Notes
- ↑ Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh becomes Ochil and South Perthshire MP, as long serving Labour man ousted Daily Record, 9 May 2015, accessed 11 May 2015
- ↑ Electing to put soap on the ropes Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh has abandoned her acting career in Pakistan to fight for a seat in the Scottish Parliament. Frances Horsburgh reports Herald Scotland, 23 February 1999, accessed 11 May 2015
- ↑ Tory defector blames Hague BBC, 15 June 2000, accessed 11 May 2015
