Mohammed Amin (our Chairman since June 2014) often writes about politics in his personal capacity, on Conservative Home and on his personal website. He has recently written about the figures for BME (black and minority ethnic) MPs in his piece on Conservative Home “BME MPs – A tale of two parties” which he expanded slightly on his website as “UK political party differences in selecting BME Parliamentary candidates.”
If you are interested in Mr Amin’s personal opinions on the issues, you can read them at the links above. We considered that the data presented in those articles should be shared more widely, and he has given us permission to reproduce it below.
Conservative MPs who self-identify as BME and their constituencies
The 17 Conservative MPs are listed below.
| MP Name | Constituency Name | Constituency BME % |
| Sharma, Alok | Reading West | 19.11% |
| Afriyie, Adam | Windsor | 13.15% |
| Kwarteng, Kwasi | Spelthorne | 12.70% |
| Chishti, Rehman | Gillingham & Rainham | 10.39% |
| Grant, Helen | Maidstone & The Weald | 6.86% |
| Gyimah, Sam | Surrey East | 6.50% |
| Vara, Shailesh Lakhman | Cambridgeshire North West | 6.28% |
| Jayawardena, Ranil Malcolm | Hampshire North East | 4.52% |
| Javid, Sajid | Bromsgrove | 4.21% |
| Fernandes, Suella | Fareham | 3.41% |
| Cleverly, James Spencer | Braintree | 3.32% |
| Sunak, Rishi | Richmond (Yorks) | 3.14% |
| Patel, Priti Sushil | Witham | 3.01% |
| Mak, Alan | Havant | 2.94% |
| Zahawi, Nadhim | Stratford-on-Avon | 2.88% |
| Kennedy, Seema Louise Ghiassi | South Ribble | 2.80% |
| Ghani, Nusrat | Wealden | 2.70% |
| Number of MPs = 17 | Average | 6.35% |
Labour MPs who self-identify as BME and their constituencies
The 23 Labour MPs are listed below:
| MP Name | Constituency Name | Constituency BME % |
| Mahmood, Shabana | Birmingham Ladywood | 72.67% |
| Sharma, Virendra | Ealing Southall | 69.55% |
| Vaz, Keith Anthony | Leicester East | 68.56% |
| Hussain, Imran | Bradford East | 62.92% |
| Shah, Naseem Akhter | Bradford West | 62.92% |
| Butler, Dawn | Brent Central | 61.25% |
| Mahmood, Khalid | Birmingham Perry Barr | 60.33% |
| Malhotra, Seema | Feltham & Heston | 55.13% |
| Ali, Rushanara | Bethnal Green & Bow | 53.06% |
| Osamor, Kate | Edmonton | 52.74% |
| Lammy, David Lindon | Tottenham | 49.91% |
| Abbott, Diane Julie | Hackney North & Stoke Newington | 42.26% |
| Umunna, Chuka Harrison | Streatham | 41.81% |
| Vaz, Valerie | Walsall South | 39.29% |
| Huq, Rupa Asha | Ealing Central & Acton | 36.69% |
| Siddiq, Tulip | Hampstead & Kilburn | 34.48% |
| Khan, Sadiq Aman | Tooting | 34.10% |
| Qureshi, Yasmin | Bolton South East | 27.01% |
| Onwurah, Chi | Newcastle upon Tyne Central | 25.78% |
| Debbonaire, Thangam | Bristol West | 25.48% |
| Hendrick, Mark Phillip | Preston | 23.73% |
| Lewis, Clive Anthony | Norwich South | 9.99% |
| Nandy, Lisa Eva | Wigan | 2.94% |
| Number of MPs = 23 | Average | 26.73% |
Ethnic composition of all English and Welsh Parliamentary constituencies
The 2011 Census contains a full ethnic breakdown by constituency, which can be used to calculate the BME percentage of the constituency’s residents. The full Excel spreadsheet is at this link.
Mr Amin has also matched that against the General Election 2015 results to list for England & Wales the BME percentage of all Conservative held seats and all Labout held seats. This is provided as an Excel spreadsheet and a PDF document.
His calculation show that the average Conservative held seat in England & Wales is 7.62% BME, which is slightly higher than the average 6.35% BME ratio of seats held by a Conservative BME MP. In other words the average Conservative BME MP represents a seat that is slightly “whiter” than the average Conservative held seat.
Conversely his figures show that the average Labour held seat in England & Wales is 20.47% BME. That is significantly lower than the average 26.73% BME ratio of seats held by a Labour BME MP. In other words the average Labour BME MP represents a seat that is significantly more BME than the average Labour held seat.