WITH the General Election around the corner, The Bolton News is running a series of features with candidates vying for your vote. Here, politics reporter Elaine O'Flynn speaks to Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi, who is standing again in Bolton South East.

THE Labour MP for Bolton South East said she is taking nothing for granted as she prepares for the General Election on May 7.

Yasmin Qureshi MP won the Labour safe seat in May 2010 and says since then she’s campaigned tirelessly for her constituents — regardless of whether they voted for her or not.

Born in Pakistan, the 51-year-old moved to Watford when she was nine and trained initially as a lawyer.

She worked as a barrister with the Crown Prosecution Service and later with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, helping set up the country’s legal system after the break-up of former Yugoslavia.

When elected in 2010 she was among a group of Britain’s first female Muslim MPs, and now lives were her husband and elderly mother, who she is a carer for, in Over Hulton.

“I’m a very hard working, diligent constituency MP, and I have taken up the issues of my constituents, even if they don’t agree with my own views”, she told The Bolton News.

“I have done a lot in health and welfare, campaigning against the bedroom tax and personal independence payments (PIP) , against Atos and benefits sanctions as well as mental health issues.

“It is vulnerable people who I have been campaigning for the most for — and as carer for my mother, I understand a lot of issues faced by the elderly and families of people who care for a relative.”

As Bolton South East covers Bolton town centre, Ms Qureshi said if re-elected she would push for local authorities to be given the power to offer new shops concessionary business rates, as a way of revitalising the town centre.

“It’s important for small businesses to have that leg up —to not charge rates for the first couple of years”, she said.

But while she accepts more funding should be given to local government, shadow chancellor Ed Balls has said the amount of cuts levied on councils like Bolton is not due to change — regardless of whether Labour wins the next election.

Ms Qureshi said she believes that poorer Labour councils, particularly in the north, have had an unfair amount of savings demanded on them by the government.

She said: “There should be fair funding across local authorities — some of the richer, Conservative councils have got better deals than the poorer ones like Bolton and that is not right.

“It is about how the cuts are shared.”

On immigration, Ms Qureshi says that she understands that people in Bolton South East are worried that the number of people coming to live in Britain is too high, but says the argument needs to be balanced.

She said: “I understand the concerns, and Labour have said that we would make sure that people coming to Britain from within the EU can’t claim any benefits for at least two years before they able to collect anything from the welfare state.

“What we have found is that people are less worried about the numbers of people, but people coming in who are claiming benefits or don’t have a job.

“We would help that by abolishing zero hour contracts, and enforcing the minimum wage with business here so immigrants aren’t on a different income.

“People are right to be concerned but the debate has to be balanced — surveys show people think immigrants make up 20 per cent of the population, when it’s actually five or six per cent, and the majority of our welfare budget doesn’t go on jobseekers allowance but on pensions.

“We have to look beyond the headlines and not believe everything we are told.”

Ms Qureshi said she wants to see Britain stay a member of the EU, but added: “I think the European Parliament needs to be reformed — for example it needs to only be in once place, and the number of MEPs trimmed down.

“I think we need to be part of a big trading block and we benefit because of it, but I also want us to trade with emerging markets like Brazil and China.”

Asked what challenge UKIP will present her this May she said: “I don’t know.

“I am intending to fight this election on what the Labour party did when it was in office — the real, significant improvements in health, education, taking people out of poverty.

“Labour has got the best offer for the country. I have never fought a negative campaign, and I have got to convince the people of Bolton South East that we are the right party.”

See tomorrow's Bolton News for an interview with Cllr Mudasir Dean, who is standing for the Conservative party in Bolton South East.