Murad Qureshi
Member of the London Assembly for the Labour Party (London-wide)
Incumbent
Assumed office  10 June 2004
Born	27 May 1965 (1965-05-27) (age 44) Stockport, Cheshire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Residence	Central London
Alma mater	University of East Anglia University College London
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Muslim
Website	www.muradqureshi.com

Murad Qureshi (born 27 May 1965) is a British Labour Party politician, and a Member of the London Assembly.

Contents 1 Background 2 Political career 3 Campaigns and activities 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Background

Qureshi was born in May 1965 in Stockport, Cheshire, but he was brought up in Westminster, London, when his parents moved in July 1965. He attended Quintin Kynaston School and graduated from the University of East Anglia before undertaking an MSc in Environmental Economics at University College London.

Of Bangladeshi descent,^[1] he comes from a politically active family: his late father Mushtaq Qureshi was a Labour Party councillor in the City of Westminster,^[2] as is his sister Papya Qureshi.^[3]

He attended Quintin Kynaston School and graduated from the University of East Anglia before undertaking an MSc in Environmental Economics at University College London.

Before becoming an Assembly Member, he worked in Housing and Regeneration for 15 years, helping establish housing associations and co-ops in the East End.^[4]

He was an Executive Committee member of SERA from 1994 to 2000.^[4]

[edit] Political career

He was a councillor in the City of Westminster from 1998 to 2006, was elected on the Labour Party's party list to the London Assembly in the 2004 Assembly election and was re-elected in the 2008 election.

He has been described as "the only Muslim member" of the London Assembly,^[5] although he supports Amartya Sen's theory of plural identities^[6] and has criticised the practice of individuals "defining themselves simply by their religion, without taking into account other key aspects of their identity".^[7]

He is Chair of the London Assembly's Environment Committee, Member of the Budget and Performance Committee, Member of the Standards Committee, Member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, which oversees the London Fire Brigade, and Chair of the Mayor's London Waterways Commission.

As an Assembly Member he has undertaken rapporteurships into pedicabs (cycle rickshaws)^[8] and the loss of London's playing fields.^[9] The latter report called for Sport England to be consulted on all applications for developments on playing fields measuring 0.2 hectares or more, a policy which has since been adopted by the Department for Communities and Local Government.^[10]

[edit] Campaigns and activities

Among current campaigns he is calling for the inclusion of Twenty20 cricket in the 2012 Olympic Games,^[11] a proposal which has received the backing of the London Assembly,^[12] and he has advocated the use of blue lines to mark the courses of London's underground rivers.^[13]

He has called for Edgware Road tube station (Bakerloo Line) to be renamed Church Street Market, as this would end the confusion between that station and the namesake station on the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines.^[14]

He has worked to raise awareness of the crucial role of remittances in international development.^[15]

In 2007 he hosted a meeting at City Hall which launched the Cambridge IGCSEs in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India Studies.^[16]

He closely follows political developments in South Asia and was in Bangladesh for the parliamentary elections in December 2008.^[17]

He is Chair of Capital SERA, the London branch of SERA.^[18]

He contributes regular columns to the China Daily and Tribune.^[19]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• http://www.muradqureshi.com Murad Qureshi's website
• http://blog.muradqureshi.com Murad Qureshi's blog
• Biography from the London Assembly