Record number of women elected to Parliament in General Election

A record-breaking 220 female MPs have been elected into the House of Commons following last night’s General Election.

Although the number of women representing parties has increased from 208 in 2017, men still considerably outweigh their female counterparts.

Women now make up 34 per cent of the Commons and although this is the most representation there has ever been, there is still a long way to go before a 50/50 Parliament becomes a reality.

Thursday night’s poll saw 1,124 women stand as candidates, while all female ballots were seen in Barking, Chippenham, Llanelli and Telford.

However, there are still huge contrasts across the parties.

There are now more female MPs representing Labour – 104 out of 203 – than their male counterparts with the party seeing at least a 50 per cent representation.

However, only about 30 per cent of the Conservatives’ MPs are women, with female candidates winning 86 seats, which is the most the party has seen.

There were some huge losses for female MPs after Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson lost her seat in Dunbartonshire East, and ex-Tory minister Anna Soubry and Labour’s Laura Pidcock also lost their seats.

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon was seen gleefully cheering when Amy Callaghan of the SNP snatched Ms Swinson’s seat.

In a further sign that women still face many hurdles before equal representation is achieved, a Huffpost analysis found there were no female candidates in 74 seats – roughly 11.5 per cent.

The record number of women comes just over 100 years since Nancy Astor became the first female MP to sit in Parliament.

Lady Astor won the Plymouth Sutton seat in a by-election in 1919, after her husband ascended to the House of Lords following the death of his father. She stood down in 1945 and died in 1964 aged 84.