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Be proud of UK’s most diverse parliament ever – don’t jeopardise it

The most diverse British parliament has emerged from a tumultuous election. But will the Democratic Unionist Party’s conservative stance endanger this feat?

By Stephen Frost
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Assembly election poster in April 2016 in Stranmillis, Belfast. Albert Bridge,geograph/Flickr. Some rights reserved.This is the most diverse parliament the UK has ever had. We have 207 women, 51 Black and Minority Ethnic MPs, 45 openly gay MPs: this representation is a cornerstone of our democracy.

It’s the first time Britain has had more than 200 women in parliament, now making up 32% of all MPs. The number of LGBT MPs increased from 32 in 2015 to 45 in 2017 – an astonishing 40% increase in just two years. Tanmanjeet Singh Desi is the first MP to wear a turban, Layla Moran is the first female MP of Palestinian descent, Preet Gill is the first female Sikh MP, and - Afzal Khan is Manchester’s first Muslim MP.

What’s more, for the first time ever, more than 50% of MPs have a comprehensive school background.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0