Which UK political parties have Muslim MPs in 2025 and how many in each party?
Executive summary
Reporting from multiple sources finds that Muslim MPs elected in 2024 sit mainly in Labour, with a small Conservative presence and a cluster of independents; exact tallies differ between outlets because there is no single official register of MPs’ religions, forcing reliance on independent counts [1] [2] [3]. One dataset counts 25 Muslim MPs — 19 Labour, 2 Conservative and 4 Independents — while another records 24 Muslim MPs — 18 Labour, 2 Conservative and 4 Independents — illustrating the reporting ambiguity [1] [2].
1. Labour: the largest bloc of Muslim MPs
Labour is reported as the party with the most Muslim MPs after the 2024 election, with sources listing either 18 or 19 Labour Muslims depending on the tally used; the Ayaan Institute reports 18 Labour Muslim MPs [2] while another summary records 19 Labour Muslim MPs out of a total of 25 Muslim MPs [1], a discrepancy that reflects differing classification choices and the challenge of confirming personal faith from public records [3].
2. Conservatives: a small but visible presence
Both principal tallies agree that the Conservative Party returned two Muslim MPs in the 2024 intake, a small number compared with Labour’s contingent but consistently reported across outlets consulted [1] [2].
3. Independents: a distinct and politically active group
Four Independents are counted in both principal sources as Muslim MPs who won seats outside the major parties [1] [2], and some of those Independents have since organised into a parliamentary grouping called the Independent Alliance alongside Jeremy Corbyn to secure speaking slots and a formal rota position [4]. Reporting describes that five MPs — four of them independent Muslims and Corbyn — formed that alliance, which highlights how independent MPs can aggregate influence even when not attached to a mainstream party [4].
4. What the numbers mean — representation, uncertainty and competing counts
Outlets frame the totals differently: one headline figure states 25 Muslim MPs (2 Conservative, 19 Labour, 4 Independents), equating to roughly 4% of the 650-seat Commons and noting that Muslims are about 6.5% of Britain’s population, implying under‑representation if parity were the goal [1]. Another respected calculation by the Ayaan Institute gives 24 Muslim MPs and slightly different party breakdowns [2]. The divergence is explained by the absence of an official, self-declared religious roster of MPs — academics and journalists must compile lists from biographies, statements and community reporting, which produces inevitable variation [3].
5. Other parties and absences noted in coverage
Several reports explicitly note the absence of Muslim MPs in some parties: the widely circulated count points out that the Liberal Democrats had no Muslim MPs despite growth in MP numbers, and other smaller or emergent parties are not identified as having Muslim MPs in the sources consulted [1]. Commentators also emphasise that the new cohort includes high-profile independents elected on constituency‑specific platforms, reshaping assumptions about where Muslim political representation can sit — inside traditional parties or outside them as independents [4] [5].
6. Caveats, competing narratives and editorial context
Beyond the raw counts, commentary ranges from civic‑representation framing to alarmist takes that characterise Muslim MPs as a political bloc or threat; critics and commentators (e.g., political magazines and opinion writers) have pushed competing narratives about “political Islam” and the implications for Labour and British politics, underscoring the partisan angles in some coverage [6] [5] [7]. Crucially, the underlying empirical limitation remains: there is no single authoritative public dataset of MPs’ religions, so independent tallies — while broadly consistent on party distribution (Labour majority, two Conservatives, several independents) — can differ by one or two names depending on methodology [3] [1] [2].