Debunked: Yes, the new mayor of Rotherham Rukhsana Ismail is from England and can speak English

A NUMBER OF claims about the mayor of the UK town of Rotherham, including that she cannot speak English and was not born in England, are false.

Last month, Labour councillor Rukhsana Ismail became the mayor of Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire in the north of England, and she will serve as mayor for the remainder of 2025 and into 2026.

Since then, a multiple posts have been shared across social media platforms containing false information about her.

These range from claims that Ismail is a refugee from Pakistan who was granted UK citizenship, and that she gave her first speech as mayor in Urdu, not English. Other claims state that she cannot speak English. All of these are false. 

According to the Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council official website, Ismail was born in Sheffield, which is about 10km away from Rotherham, and moved to Birmingham when she was young.

She later moved to Rotherham. She is English and was not born or raised in Pakistan, as is claimed.

Ismail can clearly be heard speaking English in council meetings. Including this one, from 21 May, which she chaired as mayor.

Other claims online state that Ismail gave her “maiden speech” as mayor in Urdu, the official language of Pakistan. Ismail was elected as mayor by her fellow councillors at the council meeting on 16 May.

As the webcast from that meeting shows, she gave an impassioned first speech as mayor almost wholly in English, before delivering some words dedicated to her mother in her “mother tongue”.

Many of the claims about Rukhsana Ismail seem to originate from an article from the fake news website the People’s Voice. The website in question has been debunked on numerous occasions and has been widely reported to be a source of false news articles. 

Some posts on social media also take issue with the fact that Ismail was elected as mayor by other councillors, rather than in a public vote.

However, this is common practice for many councils across the UK (as it is in Ireland).

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council elects its mayor to hold a ceremonial role, chairing council meetings and attending official events. This is in contrast with major cities like London, for example, which directly elects a mayor with more power.

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