How society is structured to 'keep people in poverty' - Labour MP Naz Shah
Ways to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy
Channel 4 News
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Naz Shah first came to public attention through her campaign to free her mother, who was imprisoned after killing an abusive partner - a case that raised difficult questions about domestic violence, justice and the way the system treats women who fight back.
Before entering politics, her early life was marked by poverty, abuse and coercion. She was sent to Pakistan as a child, forced into marriage as a teenager, and later returned to the UK to care for her younger siblings while her mother served a long prison sentence.
She has since written extensively about her experiences in her memoir Honoured, and built a political career rooted in her formative years. Since 2015, she has been the Labour MP for Bradford West, advocating on issues including violence against women, poverty and inequality.
In this episode of Ways to Change the World, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Naz Shah about honour, shame and the silence that surrounds abuse, the structural inequalities that shape life chances, and why she believes education is the key to changing the world.
This episode includes conversation around abuse, sexual exploitation and suicide.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | society structures aren't designed to lift people out of poverty we're just managing it there is no |
| 0:06.4 | poverty of aspiration there's a poverty of structure to allow people to meet their aspiration |
| 0:12.1 | why did epstein happen why did the me too movement happen it's all about not respecting women |
| 0:18.6 | it's all about predatory behavior it's all all about misogyny. It all comes back to |
| 0:23.3 | all of these things that we need to fix in society. How did your mum end up killing the man who had been |
| 0:29.6 | exploiting her and abusing her? Hello and welcome to ways to change the world. I'm Christianin Guru Murthy and this is the podcast |
| 0:39.6 | where we talk to extraordinary people about the big ideas in their lives and the events that have helped shape them. |
| 0:45.7 | My guest today is someone whose life has been defined by survival, resistance and the decision to turn private trauma into public purpose. |
| 0:54.4 | She grew up in a home scarred by violence, |
| 0:57.3 | was forced into marriage as a teenager, |
| 0:59.6 | and then in early adulthood found herself caring for her younger siblings, |
| 1:03.5 | while her mother served a prison sentence for killing an abusive partner. |
| 1:08.2 | Her path into politics began through social work and a long campaign to |
| 1:12.5 | free her mother, a campaign that taught her how power works and how to challenge it. Nas Shah is the |
| 1:19.0 | author of Honoured and has been the Labour MP for Bradford West since 2015, winning the seat |
| 1:24.5 | after defeating George Galloway. She has held it through the various internal shifts of Labour Party politics |
| 1:30.6 | while continuing to advocate on issues rooted in the experiences that shaped her own life. |
| 1:36.7 | Nas, welcome. |
| 1:37.7 | Thank you. |
| 1:38.2 | And congratulations on this book. |
| 1:39.5 | I have to say, it is absolutely amazing gripping. |
| 1:43.0 | I think anyone who was interested in communities, patriarchy, grooming, |
... |
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