Onkar Sahota is a

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Labour Party politician and general practitioner who served as Chair of the

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...

from 2022 to 2023. He was Deputy Chair of the London Assembly from 2023 to 2024, and the first Labour member of the London Assembly for Ealing and Hillingdon, from

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

until

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Early life

Onkar Sahota grew up in Southall during the 1960s as one of five children, having three sisters and a brother. His parents had moved to the UK from India. His father worked for

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before opening his own

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s. He studied medicine at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

, graduating in 1983, and is now a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

at a surgery in Southall.

Political career

In 2012, Sahota was elected the new member for Ealing & Hillingdon on a 9.2% swing, defeating incumbent

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member and Deputy Mayor of London Richard Barnes. Sahota was re-elected in 2016 with an increased majority. He served as the London Assembly Labour Group's lead spokesperson on health and was Chair of the Assembly's Health Committee. Sahota was re-elected in 2021 but with his majority halved. In May 2022, Sahota was elected as Chair of the London Assembly.

Policy

Sahota opposes the planned closure of the accident and emergency (A&E) ward at Ealing Hospital, and launched a petition to keep the facility open. The campaign was ultimately successful and the closure plans were scrapped. Sahota has also campaigned on issues including the Southall Waterside development and the impact of budgetary pressures on London's accident and emergency departments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahota, Onkar Living people 20th-century British medical doctors Labour Members of the London Assembly Labour Co-operative Members of the London Assembly Alumni of the University of Sheffield Year of birth missing (living people) British people of Indian descent British people of Punjabi descent London AMs 2012–2016 London AMs 2016–2021 London AMs 2021–2024