History was made today: The United Kingdom woke up under a new government: Labour leader Keir Starmer became Prime Minister after 14 years of Conservative rule.
In his speech outside his new home at 10 Downing Street, the new Prime Minister said that the people had voted “resoundingly for change” and that this was exactly the change he had promised to implement.
The polls found not only that more LGBTQ and public sector MPs were elected to the House of Commons than ever before, but also the highest number of female MPs.
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When the House of Commons is re-elected, at least 242 female MPs are expected in the new government (220 female MPs were elected in 2019, when the proportion of women MPs reached 34%, the highest level in Parliament to date).
While figures such as Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Speaker of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt and former Prime Minister and MP for South West Norfolk Liz Truss have been asked to give up their seats, there have been some groundbreaking successes for other high-profile female politicians.
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Rachel Reeves is Britain’s first female chancellor. The MP for Leeds West and Pudsey has been Labour’s shadow chancellor since May 2021. Even better: her younger sister Ellie is Labour’s deputy campaign director, so they will also be the first sisters to sit at the cabinet table. “I think a few more girls from (the comprehensive school) Cator Park and a few fewer boys from Eton in the cabinet would be a pretty good thing for our country,” Reeves told the Mirror in an interview during the election campaign.
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Rachel Blake is the first Labour MP to win the seat of the Cities of London and Westminster since its creation in 1950.
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Angela Rayner was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and given her own portfolio as Minister for Equality, Housing and Communities, succeeding Michael Gove.
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Monica Harding made history in Esher and Walton by becoming the first non-Conservative to represent the region in over a century – and the first female MP ever.
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Julia Buckley is the first female MP for Shrewsbury, replacing Daniel Kawczynski, who represented the region for 19 years.
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Rosie Wright is the first female MP for Kettering and described the election victory as “the absolute honour of her life”.
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Amanda Hack is the first female MP for North West Leicestershire, ending Andrew Bridgen’s 14-year tenure as MP for the constituency.
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Co-Chairman of the Greens Carla Denyer ousted Labour’s shadow cabinet member Thangham Debbonaire in Bristol Central. Her party won a total of four seats.
While there are successes to celebrate for women, Jess Phillips And Shabana Mahmood recently spoke about the harassment they faced during the election campaign. Phillips defeated Workers Party candidate Jody McIntyre to retain her seat in Yardley, while Mahmood fielded independent candidate and lawyer Akhmed Yakoob in Ladywood.
During her victory speech, Mrs Philips was greeted with shouts and boos from the crowd and was forced to respond to the hecklers by saying: “I will continue with my speech. I understand that a strong woman standing up to you would be met with such reticence.”
“A young woman handing out leaflets alone was filmed and shouted at in the street by a much older man,” she said of the experience of a community activist who went out with Phillips to canvass for votes and was filmed by people on the street while her car tires were slashed.
She went on to say that the country was “in a desperate situation and our politics needs an even greater overhaul, and I thank everyone in this room for proving that to me with a truly spectacular piece of evidence.”
Mahmood also used her speech to draw attention to the abuse her family and campaigners faced during the election campaign.
“Much will be written about this election campaign, and it should be. This election campaign has been tainted by harassment and intimidation,” she said, referring to the physical threats and harassment reported to police. She called the behavior an “attack on democracy itself” and said it was “never acceptable to intimidate and threaten people.”
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