More than half of MPs went to comprehensive
FOR the first time, more than half of the MPs in the House of Commons were educated at comprehensive schools.
After the influx of 98 new MPs, the number of privately educated MPs elected to Parliament is the lowest on record.
Educational charity, the Sutton Trust, analysed the schooling backgrounds of the 650 MPs elected on Thursday.
Of these, 29 per cent are privately educated – down from 32 per cent in 2015.
It is the first time the figure has dipped below 30 per cent since Tony Blair’s Labour government swept to power in 1997, also with
29 per cent of privately educated MPs. The number of those from independent schools reached a record high of 51 per cent in 1983.
The Sutton Trust has examined data on the educational backgrounds of the three main parties dating back to 1979.
In that year, 49 per cent of MPs attended private schools. The charity’s research brief, Parliamentary Privilege 2017, found that MPs educated at comprehensive schools now make up 51 per cent of the House, a rise from 49 per cent in 2015.
Eighteen per cent of current MPs went to selective state grammar schools, slightly down from 19 per cent in 2015.
Among the privately educated MPs, more than one in ten went to Eton – 3 per cent of the total.
Labour MPs are more likely to have attended comprehensive schools than Conservative MPs – at 67 per cent compared to 38 per cent.
However, 88 per cent of SNP MPs went to comprehensives. Of the 98 new MPs, two thirds attended a comprehensive while one fifth
were educated privately. Some 23 per cent of all MPs were educated at Oxbridge.
Sir Peter Lampl, chairman and founder of the Sutton Trust and chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation, said last night: ‘The landscape of British politics has changed considerably. This is reflected in the educational profile of the House of Commons, where there has been an increase in the numbers of state-educated MPs.
‘However, MPs are still four times as likely to have been to a fee- paying school than a state school. If Parliament is to truly represent the nation as a whole, able people from all backgrounds should have the opportunity to become MPs.’