Rushanara Ali has been Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow since 2010. Born in 1975 in Bangladesh, she grew up in Tower Hamlets after moving to the UK at age seven and went on to study at the University of Oxford. 

She has held several shadow ministerial roles including international development, education, and small business, and in government has worked on homelessness and democracy.

Before Parliament, she worked in public policy and think tanks, and has been involved in numerous community and education initiatives in Tower Hamlets, alongside roles with organisations focused on child poverty and social mobility.