Former councillor Rabina Khan will stand as Lib-dem MP for new constituency

After a varied political career, Rabina Kahn is now standing as the new lib-dem MP for a newly drawn-up constituency in Tower Hamlets.

Rabina Khan announced on Monday January 15,  that she will stand as the Lib-dem candidate for Bethnal Green and Stepney, in the upcoming general election expected in 2024. 

The Lib-Dem Party announced she will run her campaign on the housing crisis, climate change, the NHS, the cost of living and knife crime. 

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: ‘For me, it’s about standing up for people. In Bethnal Green and Stepney, I’ve seen it all, from city wealth to local struggles. I want to represent this constituency as my roots are in Stepney.’

Born in Bangladesh in 1972, and now living in Tower Hamlets for over 30 years, Khan will be running as the candidate for Bethnal Green and Stepney, previously Bethnal Green and Bow, the seat currently held by labour MP Rushnara Ali. 

In the past, Khan represented Shadwell for a total of 12 years, initially elected as a labour councillor and then as a councillor for Lutfar Rahman’s Tower Hamlet’s First Party(THF). 

On Friday January 12, Tower Hamlets Lib-Dems posted on X (formerly Twitter): ‘We’re pleased to announce that Rabina Khan, a former councillor of twelve years in Shadwell, and former special advisor in the House of Lords, will be our candidate for the new parliamentary constituency of Bethnal Green and Stepney at this year’s general election.’

Khan was the Tower Hamlet’s cabinet member for housing from 2010 to 2015, a key area of her work was aimed at ending the leasehold system and encouraging the conversation on climate change to include ethnic minorities. 

In 2015 she stood as an independent candidate when THF was disbanded, and was then re-elected as a council member for Tower Hamlet’s Independent Group (THIG) but she then defected to People’s Alliance of Tower Hamlets (PATH) in 2018 before finally joining the Lib-Dems in 2019. 

Khan has also reported on climate change for the Financial Times and the issues of leaseholds for Londonersl for Inside Housing. 

The reformed constituency,  Bethnal Green and Stepney was once abolished in 1997 and is the newly established version of what is currently the Bethnal Green and Bow plot. 

Bethnal Green and Stepney will cover eight wards: Bethnal Green East (formerly Bethnal Green), St Dunstan’s, Bethnal Green West (formerly St Peter’s), Shadwell, Spitalfields and Banglatown, Stepney Green, Weavers and Whitechapel.

Formerly part of Bethnal Green and Bow, Bow East and Bow West will now be moved to the new Stratford and Bow constituency. 

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