A GLASGOW councillor is gunning to become Scotland’s first MP to have arrived in the country as a refugee, according to leaked internal documents.
Roza Salih, who was elected as an SNP councillor for Greater Pollok last year, has passed vetting, a list of approved candidates obtained by The National shows.
Born in Iraq, Salih and her family fled the country in 2001 after her grandfather and uncle were killed.
Her father was a Peshmerga, a member of the army which fought against Saddam Hussein’s regime for Kurdish independence.
At 15, she co-founded the Glasgow Girls group, with other young refugees at Drumchapel High School, in the city’s north-west.
They waged a campaign against the Home Office to prevent the detention and deportation of one of their friends.
Salih ran unsuccessfully as the number one SNP candidate on their list for the Glasgow region in the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections.
While the SNP picked up all the constituencies in the region, they did not win representation on the list vote.
READ MORE: SNP MP Patrick Grady WON'T stand at next election, vetting list reveals
Salih was elected to Glasgow City Council in 2022 and works in the office of Glasgow South West MP Chris Stephens (below).
Her passing vetting – the process by which parties investigate candidate’s backgrounds to ensure their suitability to becoming a politician – sets up potential selection battles in Glasgow.
Boundary changes mean longstanding MP Alison Thewliss’s (below) seat has been absorbed into neighbouring patches and Patrick Grady is not standing next year.
Thewliss and all other Glasgow MPs other than Grady passed vetting.
A number of other candidates attached to Glasgow SNP branches have passed vetting, including Kenneth Andrew in Glasgow Kelvin, Qasim Hanif in Southside Central, Greg Hepburn and Jennifer Layden in Glasgow Shettleston, Rhiannon Spear in Pollokshields East and Ben Walker in Glasgow Anniesland.
If elected, she would be among the first MPs to have arrived in Britain as a refugee.
Alf Dubbs, the Labour peer who was elected the MP for Battersea South in 1979, was born in Prague and fled the Nazis by coming to Britain on the Kindertransport scheme which helped Jewish refugees reach the UK.
Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP for Barking, was born to German Jews in Egypt, where they had fled to escape persecution by the Nazis. Her family immigrated to the UK in 1948.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel