Yasmin Qureshi

Prior to taking up her position as Shadow Justice Minister, Qureshi sat on a variety of select committees. These included:

Qureshi is involved in a number of All-party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs). These include the APPGs on:[19]

• Pakistan, which she chairs;
• Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which she chairs;
• Dalits, which she chairs;
• Dyslexia and Other Specific Learning Disabilities;
• Greater Manchester, where she serves as treasurer;
• Hajj and Umrah, which she chairs;
• Religion in the Media, which she chairs;
• Srebrenica, which she chairs;
• Taxis, where she serves as secretary.

Since 2011, Qureshi has been campaigning for justice for the parents and children of those affected by Primodos, a historic hormone pregnancy test used in the 1960s and 1970s which significant evidence indicates leads to birth defects in children.[20][21] She has worked to bring about an inquiry into a purported cover-up of information on the drug which may have taken place in the 1970s and 1980s.[21] In 2017 she stated in the House of Commons that a Report into Primodos had been "condemned by MPs across the House as being a whitewash and misleading",[22] and called for a formal inquiry.

Qureshi has also campaigned against cuts to community pharmacies. Speaking in 2016 she stated that “cutting funding for community pharmacies threatens patient care and safety" [23] and that "pharmacies are vital local assets and these cuts are totally short-sighted"[24]

In response to the Myanmar's Rohingya crisis Qureshi has called for the government to condemn the crisis and work more with the international community to seek a rapid end to it.[25] She commented that "this is one of the worst outbreaks of violence in decades, yet the international community is effectively remaining silent as we watch another Srebrenica and Rwanda unfold before our eyes".[26]

Qureshi campaigned extensively to have 'upskirting' criminalised as a specific sexual offence, arguing that such legislation was long overdue. In response to Conservative MP Christopher Chope's blocking the progress of a bill to outlaw upskirting, Qureshi spoke frequently in the House of Commons in criticism of this action, stating "delays in getting to this point were totally unnecessary and have caused needless suffering".[27]

In May 2014, Qureshi opposed mandatory labelling of meat coming from animals killed by halal and kosher methods. She drew attention to studies which indicated that halal methods of slaughtering may not be more painful than stunning, saying "a myth is being perpetuated that somehow kosher and halal methods, carried out as they should be, are more painful and cause more suffering to the animal, but that is incorrect".[28][29]

Qureshi has also supported a number of other campaigns while in parliament. These include seeking to reduce the impacts of changes in State Pension Age,[30][31] calls for citizens to be able to opt-out of unsolicited phone calls from companies,[32] and questioning the pace of government cuts and the effect this is having on crime and local communities.[33]

Qureshi has been a stringent critic of the widespread closure of courts and sales of court buildings throughout her time as an MP. She argues that doing so without due process and in a rushed manner "piles yet more pressure on the remaining courts and risks hearings being further delayed and rescheduled", with the impact of "distressing victims and witnesses, many of whom are now forced to travel much greater distances".[34]

Qureshi has been a consistent critic of the Conservatives running of the prison system. In the Huffington Post, she argued that the 14% rate of prison officers leaving after a year, the record rates of prisoner suicides and the increasing safety crisis as noted by inspections indicate that prison funding and staff numbers had been cut too rapidly.[35]

Qureshi was strongly against the dropping of bombs in Syria; after travelling on a fact-finding mission with the Foreign Affairs Committee, she argued that while the bombs would certainly cause "many innocent civilian deaths", the evidence that the strikes would significantly weaken ISIS was unclear.[36][37]