Sojan Joseph is a British–Indian politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashford since 2024. He is a member of the Labour Party and previously served as a Councillor on Ashford Borough Council.

Early life and nursing career

Joseph was born in the Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. He emigrated to England and worked as a

mental health nurse A mental health nurse (MHN) refers to a nurse in the UK, who specializes in the care of patients with mental health issues. The practice of MHNs is called mental health nursing. Background MHNs comprise approximately 12% of the total NHS Nursin ...

in the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

. Before his election to parliament, Joseph was the head of nursing for community mental health services at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.

Political career

In May 2023, Joseph was elected as a Labour councillor for the Aylesford & East Stour Ward of Ashford Borough Council. He stepped down as councillor in September 2024, and the Labour lost the seat to the Green Party in the subsequent by-election. In the 2024 General Election, Joseph was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashford with 15,262 votes (32.5%) and a majority of 1,779. On 23 July 2024, he made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

in the House of Commons during a debate on immigration and home affairs. Joseph opposed Kim Leadbeater's bill introducing

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

into law and served on the committee examining the legislation.

References

External links

* Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Kerala Indian emigrants to England English people of Indian descent British people of Malayali descent UK MPs 2024–present English nurses Psychiatric nurses {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub