Best mix ever seen of women, minority and gay MPs

THE new House of Commons is our most diverse ever, returning 10 more ethnic minority MPs and, in a historic first, over 200 women.

Of the 51 ethnic minority MPs, 31 are Labour members – 11% of the party’s total – while 19 are Conservatives, making up 6%. Only one, Layla Moran, is a Lib Dem.

Physics teacher Ms Moran, who is mixed race, routed the Tories in Oxford West and Abingdon. Her mum is a Christian Palestinian from Jerusalem, making her one of the first British MPs with Arab roots.

The election of Labour’s Tan Dhesi in Slough and Preet Gill in Edgbaston means there will be two Sikh MPs. There were none in 2015.

With Kensington declaring last night there are now 208 women MPs, or 32%. On the Labour benches 45% are women, but just 21% of Tories. The election of two disabled Labour MPs has also been hailed as a key development. Marsha de Cordova, who is registered blind, took Battersea from the Tories, while Jared O’Mara – who has

cerebral palsy hemiparesis – won Sheffield Hallam from ex-Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg.

Fewer MPs are now privately educated – down 3% to 29%, according to Sutton Trust research. And 51% went to comprehensives, up from 43% in 2015, while 18% attended grammar schools.

The number of lesbian, gay and bisexual MPs is up 13 to 45 – that’s 19 Labour, 19 Tories and seven SNP.