Seema Malhotra has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Feltham and Heston, representing the Labour Party, since 2011.
Currently, she holds the position of Shadow Minister for Skills and Further Education from 2023 onwards. Previously, she has served on the opposition front bench in various roles, including Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, Shadow Minister for Employment, and a shadow Home Office minister.
In conversation with Asian Voice, she discusses Labour’s future plans if the party forms the government, her work as an MP and as a Shadow Minister so far and her plans for her constituency.
How will you describe the last 14 years of Conservatives leading the UK and what do you think are the main challenges that the party will inherit? If elected, what immediate actions will be taken?
Britain is a great country, but it has been badly led in recent years. The political and economic instability we have seen has hit our economy and business investment hard. Our public services are on their knees, NHS wait lists at a record high and tax rises have squeezed the incomes of the public. This is the first Parliament where people are worse off at the end of the Parliament than at the start. If the Tories won again, it would all just carry on.
Labour is ready to rebuild our country. Our first steps will be to ensure economic stability, invest in our schools with 6,500 new teachers and more work experience for all young people, cutting NHS waiting lists with 40,000 more weekend and evening appointments in the NHS and investing in new technology, setting up a new Border Security Command to smash criminal gangs and fix our broken asylum system, and set up a new publicly-owned energy company to cut bills and create new jobs. We will harness Britain’s sun, wind and waves to save UK households £93bn.
What are some improvements that can be expected under a future Labour government?
We know that as a nation, our number one priority has to be to grow the economy. But we cannot grow our economy without investing in our people, and without a proper plan for skills.
The next Labour government will bring leadership and ambition to our skills system by creating a new national body – Skills England – to drive the change we need.
We will reform the Tories’ failed Apprenticeship Levy into a wider Growth and Skills Levy, giving employers the flexibility they need and increasing opportunities to learn through more modular courses in our communities.
And we’ll develop a network of Technical Excellence Colleges, empowering education providers to work hand-in-hand with local businesses, trade unions and local government to provide young people with better job opportunities and the highly trained workforce local economies need.
Having worked for the people of Feltham and Heston for the past thirteen years, can you describe the work you’ve done in the constituency and its diverse community so far and what is your vision for the future?
Since being elected MP, I have worked tirelessly to support working families, small businesses and women entrepreneurs, and for our NHS. In the last five years, I have dealt with over 20,000 cases and queries from constituents, and spoken more than 1000 times in Parliament.
I’ve worked with the police, faith and community groups to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, and successfully campaigned to Feltham Station Ticket Office and Feltham Police Station open. I co-founded the London West Innovation Network bringing in new partnerships and funding to support entrepreneurs in West London. I’ve worked with foodbanks across the constituency to support families during Covid and the cost of living crisis and championed regeneration plans across the constituency.
I set up local charity Hounslow’s Promise which has supported young people with mentoring, masterclasses, laptops and quiet study spaces. Every child deserves the best chance in life. I founded the Hounslow Christmas Project 4 years ago, buying, wrapping and delivering more than 2,500 presents for children last year.
I want the next decade to be better for us – to replace decline with renewal. This is what I’ve achieved in the face of a Conservative government more focused on infighting than improving lives. Just imagine what I could get done working hand-in-hand with a Labour government.
Reform UK’s candidate for Feltham and Heston told Asian Voice that Labour focuses more on rhetoric than results and promised to bring a fresh perspective to the constituency. What is your response to that and what makes you a better candidate as compared to your contemporaries?
I’m proud to be standing again as the Labour candidate for Feltham and Heston where I grew up, with a track record in supporting local regeneration, campaigning to save local services, supporting community projects to protect our heritage and green spaces, working with all our faith communities, helping local families during the Tory cost of living crisis and growing our local economy.
Reform are led by Nigel Farage, a man who wants to get rid of the NHS as we know it and who this week has backed Enoch Powell’s rivers of blood speech which condemned the Race Relations Bill and stoked violence against Asians in the 1970s.
Reform are a symptom of Rishi Sunak’s failure. Time and again he has shown he is too weak to put country above party and caves in to his back benchers. This is about a collapse of trust in the Tories, even among their own.
What message do you want to convey to the voters of Feltham and Heston as they prepare to cast their ballots?
I’m passionate about our area and about the community I grew up in, where my father ran our small family shop and where my mum taught in our local schools. I have a track record of standing up for our area, and in supporting local families and businesses. We have seen the damage the Tories have done to Feltham and Heston, with GP appointments too hard to get, NHS waiting lists up, police numbers down, our families worse off, and child poverty on the rise. More than half of schools in Feltham and Heston have at least one building element in poor or bad condition. The Tories cut the Building Schools for the Future programme, stopped work experience being compulsory and narrowed the curriculum. It's time for a change, for a Labour government with a plan to stop the chaos, turn the page and rebuild Britain. A vote for Labour in this election is a vote for economic stability and more good jobs, our NHS off its knees and fit for the future, clean cheap British power in your home, more opportunities for everyone in our communities and safer streets.
