Labour and the Tories both have the exact same number of LGBT+ candidates, with 42 apiece. This represents 7% of the total amount standing. Liberal Democrats and Greens fare slightly worse, with 5% and 4% respectively. Unsurprisingly, UKIP fare the worst of all the political parties. Only 6 of their candidates are LGBT+. Overall, the UK is one of the world leaders when it comes to LGBT+ representation in the legislature. Leading up to the election, there were 39 LGBT+ MPs in the House of Commons. This figure represents 6% of total MPs. Again, the SNP led the way with the highest proportion of LGBT+ MPs in the aftermath of the 2015 election.Updated Tues 11am: LGBTQ Candidates UKGE17 pic.twitter.com/aE5r6d4xMi
— Andrew Reynolds (@AndyReynoldsUNC) June 6, 2017
The Scottish Parliament fares slightly better than the UK parliament in terms of LGBT+ representation, with 10 (7.7%) LGBT+ Members of the Scottish Parliament out of a total of 129. In the Welsh Assembly, 3 members out of 60 identify as LGBT+. More stories: Election: ‘The Liberal Democrats’ record on LGBT rights speaks for itself – and so does Tim Farron’s’ (Opinion) Election: Gay photographer Tommy Ga-Ken Wan on why he’s voting SNP (Opinion) Election: Why, as a gay man, I’ll be voting Labour on Thursday (Opinion) Election: Gay former British soldier James Wharton on why he’s voting Conservative (Opinion)Our paper on LGBT candidates in UK GE15 can be found here:https://t.co/dRE4DK7EtL @GabMagni pic.twitter.com/MXAN50TFcs
— Andrew Reynolds (@AndyReynoldsUNC) April 21, 2017