Wajid Khan, Baron Khan of Burnley

Wajid Iltaf Khan, Baron Khan of Burnley (born 15 October 1979) is a British Labour Party politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the North West England European constituency from 2017 until 2019.[1]

The Right Honourable

The Lord Khan of Burnley
Wajid Khan in 2017
Member of the European Parliament
for North West England
In office
29 June 2017 – 1 July 2019
Preceded byAfzal Khan
Succeeded byGina Dowding
Personal details
Born (1979-10-15) 15 October 1979
Burnley, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Political partyLabour
Websitehttp://www.wajidkhan.org/

He sat on the Foreign Affairs Committee and Human Rights Committee, as well as the Arab Peninsula and South Asia delegations. His main policy interests include workers’ rights, youth empowerment and human rights.

In December 2020, it was announced he would be conferred a Life Peerage after a nomination by Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer.[2]

Early life

The son of a taxi driver and a house-wife, Wajid was born in Burnley, Lancashire, where he continues to live with his wife and two children. Wajid has served as a Labour councillor and Burnley Council cabinet member.[3]

Before becoming an MEP, Wajid was a senior lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire for 12 years, and a course leader in community leadership for 11 years.

Prior to this, Wajid worked in the voluntary sector with young offenders, as well as teaching education programmes for homeless young people. The Burnley race riots in 2001 inspired Wajid to develop a number of community cohesion projects, which gained him the Higher Education Active Community Fund (HEACF) Volunteering Award for social and community cohesion in 2004.

Wajid's work in community development has seen him address the Civil G8 on inclusive education in Moscow, and advised the Russian Ministry of Education and Science on developing youth strategies.

He has contributed to European-wide ‘Volunteurope’ conferences in Germany, France, Poland, Bosnia and Italy.[4]

Within the UK, Wajid has developed higher education programmes to increase academic participation amongst women in the south Asian community. Wajid has directed international leadership conferences in Oman, Turkey, Pakistan and the US, and has represented the University of Central Lancashire in collaborative projects with Russian NGOs.

Wajid is an alumnus of both of HRH Prince Charles' leadership initiatives: the Mosaic international Leadership Programme as well as the Oxford Young Muslim Leadership Programme.

He also serves on the Labour Party National Policy Forum and International Policy Commission, in addition to serving on the North West regional board.[5]

MEP

Khan was included in Labour's eight-person shortlist for the 2014 European Parliament Election.[6] He took over the North West England seat in July 2017, replacing Afzal Khan who was elected as a Member of Parliament in the general election.[7] However lost his seat in the 2019 European Parliament Election.

References
  1. "Wajid KHAN | Home | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
  2. "Political Peerages 2020". Gov.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  3. "KHAN Wajid | Burnley Borough Council". www.burnley.gov.uk. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
  4. "Staff Profiles / Wajid Khan". uclan.ac.uk. University of Central Lancashire. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  5. "About Wajid". Wajid Khan MEP. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
  6. "A councillor from Burnley is on shortlist for next year's European Parliament elections". Lancashire Telegraph. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  7. Ifigenia Balkoura. "Movers and Shakers 3 July 2017". theparliamentmagazine.eu. Dods Group PLC. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
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