London · England · 81,439Boundary · 2023

Bethnal Green & Stepney

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Created in the 2023 boundary review, replacing Bethnal Green and Bow.

Dispatch
Apr 2026

A new constituency created in the 2023 boundary review. Won by Lab in its first election in 2024 by 3.6%. Centred on Tower Hamlets. Population 125,421, notably young (median age 30 vs 41 nationally), highly educated (47% degree-holders), a majority-minority constituency. Recorded crime is 73% above the national average. 7,840 businesses.

Rushanara Ali dominated national headlines in August 2025 when she resigned as Homelessness Minister after reports that she had evicted tenants from a property she owns and raised the rent by £700 a month -- conduct that directly contradicted her ministerial brief on renters' rights. The story was covered by the BBC, Sky News, LBC and others, with commentators describing her departure as "humiliating" and the episode as a textbook case of double standards. She also broke with her party on the assisted dying bill in June 2025, voting against the legislation at Third Reading and opposing several of its amendments -- one of the more consequential conscience-vote rebellions of the parliamentary session.

Outside that period of intense scrutiny, Ali is a reasonably active MP, voting in 82% of divisions against a Commons average closer to the mid-70s, and she votes with Labour 97% of the time on whipped votes. Her stance profile shows consistent alignment with the government's fiscal and progressive taxation agenda, and she tracks close to the party line on workers' rights and crime. Her speeches have concentrated on economy and jobs, housing, cost of living, and local government -- topics directly relevant to Bethnal Green and Stepney, a constituency with significant deprivation and housing pressures. One modest deviation from the party average: she is somewhat more sceptical of regulatory burdens than most Labour MPs (+14 percentage points).

383
Commons votes
This parliament
£33k
Median income
HMRC · 2024
81.4k
Electorate
2024 GE

One of the youngest constituencies — median age 30.

Current Member of Parliament

Rushanara Ali

Rushanara Ali

Labour Party

Rushanara Ali is the Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney, and has been an MP continually since 6 May 2010.

Notable Votes

Vote on whether to add a provision to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill ensuring that if an independent doctor dies or becomes too ill to complete their assessment before signing off on an assisted dying request, a further referral can be made to another doctor — mirroring an existing provision in the Bill for the attending doctor.

MP voted YesAgainst party majority

Vote on whether to prevent someone from qualifying as 'terminally ill' under the assisted dying bill solely because they have voluntarily stopped eating and drinking. The amendment aimed to close a potential loophole where a person might use self-starvation to meet the terminal illness criteria they would not otherwise meet.

MP voted NoAgainst party majority

MPs voted on the Third Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill — the final Commons vote on whether to pass the assisted dying legislation in its amended form. Passing Third Reading sends the Bill to the House of Lords.

MP voted NoAgainst party majority

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Voting at a Glance

A new constituency created in the 2023 boundary review. Won by Lab in its first election in 2024 by 3.6%. Centred on Tower Hamlets. Population 125,421, notably young (median age 30 vs 41 nationally), highly educated (47% degree-holders), a majority-minority constituency. Recorded crime is 73% above the national average. 7,840 businesses.

2024 General Election

§ 06This week in Westminster.Live · today’s sittingOrder Paper · refreshed daily

Ali’s scheduled Commons activity this week — whipped divisions, oral questions, debates — drawn from the House of Commons Order Paper.

§ 07The record, at a glance.421 divisions voted

Two readings of the same data. Issue volume shows where Ali has cast the most ballots — a proxy for engagement, not direction. Notable votes are the moments where the whip was free or where they broke ranks.

Issue volume
Top issues by total divisions voted · cumulative this Parliament
Taxation
85
Economy
79
Crime & Policing
43
Education
39
Constitution and Democracy
29
Employment
28
Notable votes
Free votes and rebellions — moments the MP’s own judgment matters more than the whip
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Amendment 1220 Jun 2025 · free vote
Aye
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Amendment 9420 Jun 2025 · free vote
No
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Third Reading20 Jun 2025 · free vote
No
§ 08The local picture.8 wards

Constituencies are not uniform. Below — the local council make-up, key facts worth knowing, and the neighbouring seats on either side.

WardCouncillorVotesParty
Bethnal GreenAhmodul Kabir2,153Aspire
Bethnal GreenRebaka Sultana2,166Labour P
Bethnal GreenSirajul Islam2,395Labour P
ShadwellAna Miah1,486Aspire
ShadwellMohammad Harun Miah2,003Aspire
Spitalfields BanglatownKabir Hussain1,595Aspire
Spitalfields BanglatownSuluk Ahmed1,591Aspire
St DunstansAyas Miah1,936Labour P
St DunstansMaisha Fahmida Begum1,840Labour P
St PetersAbu Talha Chowdhury2,673Aspire
St PetersAmin Rahman2,562Aspire
St PetersMusthak Ahmed2,744Aspire
Population (2021 Census)
125,421
Electorate 81,439 · 2024 register
Median income
£33,400
HMRC SPI 2024
Households renting privately
36.4%
England average 20.0%
Schools
63
33 primary · 10 secondary
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