LGBT Mps and Candidatesin the UK General Election May 2015

LGBT MPs and Candidatesin the UK General Election May 2015

Professor Andrew Reynolds, Director

LGBT Representation and Rights Research Initiative

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (USA)

Has Britain reached a post-homophobic state of grace? Or do the better angels of our nature just come out at election time? (A rarely stated thesis).While barely disguisedhomophobia continues to blight our schools, streets and screens, electoral politics seems to have reached a point where being a gay or straight barely registers on the hustings. The last parliament was defined by the fight for marriage equality and its aftermath – especially David Cameron’s uneasy relationship on the issue with the rank and file of the Conservative party. There was a fear of backlash. A fear that Tory voters would punish the party for being too socially liberal and Tory big-wigswould back away from installing candidates who were outside of the traditional mainstream (In 2010 the watchword had been inclusivity, of the marginalized and ‘non-traditional’). But these fears proved to be unfounded in 2015.

A quick analysis of last Thursday’s general election suggests that if there were voteswithheld for candidates because they happened to be LGBT theywere more than made up for with votes won because the candidate was LGBT. In some places being an out gay man or woman seems to have actually helped their personal vote. But the impression I gained from being on the doorsteps with LGBT candidates, from multiple parties and in both urban and suburban constituencies, was that, if it mattered at all, the candidates’ sexual orientation was of little consequenceto the average voter. Crispin Blunt couldn’t recall a single person bringing the issue up in Reigate while Simon Hughes was mobbed by adoring BME voters unfazed by long forgotten tabloid headlines. The only reported homophobia was the claim that Labour canvassers in Finchley and Golders Green had been telling orthodox Jewish voters that the incumbent Tory MP, Mike Freer, was gay - to queer the pitch as it were. The race was tight and Ashcroft polls had just put the parties neck and neck. But on the day Freer increased his vote by 4,000 and enjoyed as comfortable a majority as in 2010.

The Tories put up more openly gay candidates than any other party. Thirty-nine men and three women. Of their thirteen out MPs at dissolution twelve stood for re-election and only one lost (Eric Ollerenshaw in Lancaster and Fleetwood) but his loss was made up for by the election of Ben Howlett in Bath. Howlett overcame a huge Liberal Democrat majority and was one of the sparkling Tory victories of the evening. A quick analysis of the 50 races where there were competitive LGBT candidates shows that Tory LGBT candidates performed considerably better than their straight colleagues. 72% of them had larger vote share increases than the national trend, and on average their gains were three times the Tory average.

Labour did not take many seats from the Tories but of the ten they did win,three were won by LGB candidates. Wes Streeting and Peter Kyle generated two of the biggest swings to Labour in Ilford North and Hove respectively, and Cat Smith’s victory in Lancaster and Fleetwood was one of the five head to heads where both major parties ran out LGB candidates. The nine incumbent Labour lesbian and gay MPs held on comfortably and the party stood Gerald Jones in the safe seat of MerthyrTydfil. In a further slap in the face of stereotypes, Wales and Scotland are now the UK areas with the highest proportions of out gay MPs. The seven Scots and three Welsh are not concentratedin the green valleys and shimmering lochs, rather they were predominantly returned from working class constituenciesstruggling with life after mining and industrial decline.

It is true that all four gay and bisexual Liberal Democrat MPs were ousted: David Laws (Yeovil), Simon Hughes (Bermondsey), Stephen Williams (Bristol West) and Stephen Gilbert (St. Austell and Newquay) - but they were swept away on a tide which had nothing to do with their workas constituency MPs. All of them polled better than they probably should have had any right to do.

The SNP sent shock waves through British politics last Thursday and on that wave rode in seven new LGB identifying Members of Parliament. They exemplify the demographic diversity that is LGBTQ Britain: ranging from the high profile Edinburgh QC Joanna Cherry to the 20 year old Glasgow University politics student Mhairi Black. It means that the SNP have the highest proportion of LGBTMPsanywhere in the world. Combined with their five MSPs and one MEP it is quite a statement.

The thirty-two newly elected British MPswho identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are indeed a world record. They represent 4.9% of the House, not far off the proportion of Brits estimated to be LGBT. Thetotal far exceeds the levels of representationin countries where gay rights have been entrenched for decades: for example, there are currently twelve out MPs in the Swedish Riksdagen and ten in the Dutch TweedeKamer. Alongside the seven SNP MPs, thirteen of the new LGB House of Commons members are Labour and twelve are Conservatives. Indeed, these numbers are likely to rise as newly elected MPs feel comfortable enough to come out to the world beyond their immediate circle of family and friends.

Remarkably there were155 out LGBT candidates in May 2015 wearing the colours of all parties and in all parts of the country– forty-two Tories, thirty-nine LibDems, thirty-sixLabour, twenty-one Greens, seven SNP, six UKIP, three PlaidCymru and one from the Alliance party of Northern Ireland. Every region of the UK had gay candidates and they were no more concentrated in urban areas than rural. Northern Ireland was, unsurprisingly, not a happy hunting ground for gay politicians with only one unsuccessful candidate, but more surprising the East of England was almost as unwelcoming with only two no-hoper candidates.

While the record number of LGB MPs is a blow for diversity, internally the club is distinctly not diverse. There were only two lesbians in the last parliament, and while the number of women hastripled in 2015 they are still out-numbered by 26 men. All the LGB MPs in the last House of Commons were white, all in this House are white, and a full 153 of the 155 candidates were white. There were four out transgender candidates in the elections. The much heralded Emily Brothers for Labour in Sutton and Cheam who increased the Labour vote by over 4%, Zoe O’Connell the Liberal Democrat in Maldon whose vote actually declined less than the national average, and Greens, Stella Gardiner (Bexleyheath) and Charlie Kiss (Islington South), who both increased their party share of the vote. Kiss, the only trans-man in the election, actually increased the Green vote by 6% which was twice the national average.

* Maps compiled by Kieran Healy.

TABLE 1: BY PARTY

Tory / Labour / LibDem / SNP / PC / Green / UKIP / ALLNI
MP 2010 / 13 / 9 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
% of party / 4% / 3% / 7% / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0%
Candidates / 42 / 36 / 39 / 7 / 3 / 21 / 6 / 1
% of party / 6% / 5% / 5% / 12% / 7% / 4% / 1% / 5%
MP 2015 / 12 / 13 / 0 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
% of party / 4% / 6% / 0% / 12% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0%

TABLE 2: BY REGION

NE / NW / Yorks / EM / WM / East / Lon / SE / SW / Wales / Scot / NI
MPs 2010 / 1 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 2 / 0 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 2 / 0 / 0
% ofconst / 3% / 5% / 6% / 4% / 4% / 0% / 4% / 5% / 9% / 5% / 0% / 0%
Candidates / 8 / 15 / 11 / 15 / 11 / 2 / 28 / 19 / 13 / 12 / 17 / 1
% ofconst / 28% / 17% / 20% / 33% / 23% / 3% / 36% / 20% / 24% / 27% / 29% / 5%
MP 2015 / 1 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 2 / 0 / 3 / 4 / 3 / 3 / 7 / 0
% ofconst / 3% / 5% / 6% / 4% / 4% / 0% / 4% / 5% / 5% / 7% / 12% / 0%

NB: SEATS= NE (29) NW (75) YORKS (54)EM (46)WM (47) EAST (58) LON (73) SE (84) SW (55) WALES (40) SCOT (59) NI (18)

TABLE 3: BY IDENTITY

Gay / Lesbian / Bisexual / Transgender
MP 2010 / 22 / 2 / 2 / 0
% of LGBT / 85% / 8% / 8% / 0
Male / Female / Trans M-F / Trans F-M
Candidates / 133 / 18 / 3 / 1
% of LGBT / 86% / 12% / 2% / 1%
MP 2015 / 26 / 6 / 0 / 0
% / 81% / 19% / 0% / 0%

1. Elected LGBT MPs 2015 (32)

LGBT Candidate / Party / Region
Arundel and South Down / Nick Herbert / Con / SE
Bath / Ben Howlett / Con / SW
Blackpool South / Gordon Marsden / Lab / NW
Bournemouth West / Conor Burns / Con / SW
Cardiff South and Penarth / Stephen Doughty / Lab / WALES
Croydon North / Steve Reed / Lab / LON
Cumbernauld, KilsythKirkintilloch East / Stuart McDonald / SNP / SCOT
Dumbartonshire East / John Nicolson / SNP / SCOT
Dumbartonshire West / Martin Doherty / SNP / SCOT
Edinburgh South West / Joanna Cherry / SNP / SCOT
Exeter / Ben Bradshaw / Lab / SW
Finchleyand Golders Green / Mike Freer / Con / LON
Glasgow South / Stewart McDonald / SNP / SCOT
Grantham and Stamford / Nick Boles / Con / EM
Hove / Peter Kyle / Lab / SE
Ilford North / Wes Streeting / Lab / LON
Lanark and Hamilton East / Angela Crawley / SNP / SCOT
Lancaster and Fleetwood / Cat Smith / Lab / NW
Liverpool West Derby / Stephen Twigg / Lab / NW
MerthyrTydfil and Rhymney / Gerald Jones / Lab / WALES
Milton Keynes South / Iain Stewart / Con / SE
Newcastle East / Nick Brown / Lab / NE
Paisley and Renfrewshire S / Mhairi Black / SNP / SCOT
Pudsey / Stuart Andrew / Con / YORK
Reigate / Crispin Blunt / Con / SE
Rhondda / Chris Bryant / Lab / WALES
Ribble Valley / Nigel Evans / Con / YORK
Rutland and Melton / Alan Duncan / Con / EM
Sheffield South East / Clive Betts / Lab / YORK
Shrewsbury and Atcham / David Kawczynski / Con / WM
Stourbridge / Margot James / Con / WM
Wallasey / Angela Eagle / Lab / NW

2. Candidates

• Parties and candidates have publically identified 155 out LGBT candidates standing in the general election: 42 Tory, 39 Liberal Democrat, 36 Labour, 21 Green, 7 SNP, 6 UKIP, 3 Plaid Cymru, and 1 from the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.

Labour

Stephen Twigg – Liverpool and West Derby (NW)

Steve Reed – Croydon North (LON)

Chris Bryant – Rhondda (WALES)

Stephen Doughty – Cardiff South and Penarth (WALES)

Clive Betts - Sheffield South East (YORK)

Angela Eagle – Wallasey (NW)

Nick Brown – Newcastle East (NE)

Gordon Marsden – Blackpool South (NW)

Ben Bradshaw – Exeter (SW)

Gerald Jones (G) - MerthyrTydfil and Rhymney (WALES)

Cat Smith - Lancaster & Fleetwood (NW)

Louise Baldock (B)- Stockton South (NE)

Luke Pollard (G) - Plymouth Sutton & Devonport (SW)

Peter Kyle (G) - Hove (SE)

Andrew Pakes (G) - Milton Keynes South (SE)

Todd Foreman (G) - North East Somerset (SW)

Wes Streeting (G) - Ilford North (LON)

Chris Oxlade (G) - Crawley(SE)

Tristan Osborne (G) - Chatham & Aylesford (SE)

Ian Boulton - Filton & Bradley Stoke(SW)

Kevin McKeever - Northampton South (EM)

Katrina Gilman - The Wrekin (WM)

Stefano Borella - Bexleyheath & Crayford (LON)

Andy Adams - North West Hampshire(SE)

Sean Kelly-Walsh – Charnwood (EM)

Emily Brothers (T) - Sutton & Cheam (LON)

Braden Davy - Gordon (SCOT)

Matthew Dorrance - BreconRadnorshire (WALES)

Sean Morton - Moray (SCOT)

Jordan Newell - Colchester(EAST)

Lloyd Russell-Moyle - Lewes (SE)

Charles Smith - Maidenhead (SE)

Christopher Wellbelove – Arundel and South Downs (SE)

Steve Race – East Devon (SW)

Barrie Fairbairn - Grantham & Stamford (EM)

Michael Sparling - Torridge & West Devon (SW)

Conservative

Nick Herbert – Arundel and South Down (SE)

Nigel Evans – Ribble Valley (YORK)

Alan Duncan – Rutland and Melton (EM)

David Kawczynski - Shrewsbury and Atcham (WM)

Crispin Blunt – Reigate (SE)

Nick Boles – Grantham and Stamford (EM)

Conor Burns – Bournemouth West (SW)

Mike Freer – Finchley and Golders Green (LON)

Margot James – Stourbridge (WM)

Iain Stewart – Milton Keynes South (SE)

Stuart Andrew – Pudsey (YORK)

Eric Ollerenshaw – Lancaster and Fleetwood (NW)

Lee Rowley – NE Derbyshire (EM)

Peter Anthony - Blackpool South (NW)

David Nicholls – Clwyd South (WALES)

Simon Nayyar – Feltham and Heston (LON)

Gareth Streeter – Rother Valley (YORK)

Damien Moore – Southport (NW)

Robert Mcllveen – York Central (YORK)

Ben Howlett – Bath (SW)

Christopher Clarkson – Wallasey (NW)

Chris Chapman – Ilford South (LON)

Peter Bedford – Bolsover (EM)

Mark Fletcher – Doncaster North (YORK)

Emma Warman - Cardiff South and Penarth (WALES)

Richard Hopkin – Cardiff Central (WALES)

Paul Holmes – Mitcham and Morden (LON)

Will Blair – Holborn and St.Pancras (LON)

Jean Paul Floru – Southwark and Old Bermondsey (LON)

Martin McGann – North Tyneside (NE)

KeiranMullan – Birmingham Hodge Hill (WM)

Thomas Smith – Gateshead (NE)

Mark Vivis – Chesterfield (EM)

James Bellis – Vauxhall (LON)

Jamie Greene – North Ayrshire and Arran (SCOT)

Liam Marshall-Ascough – Stoke-on-Trent Central (WM)

Ross Thomson – Aberdeen South (SCOT)

James Bird – Birmingham Hall Green(WM)

Kyle Thornton – Glasgow South (SCOT)

Annie Wells – Glasgow North East (SCOT)

Taylor Muir - Rutherglen and Hamilton West(SCOT)

James McMordie – Edinburgh East (SCOT)

Liberal Democrat

David Laws – Yeovil(SW)

Simon Hughes –Bermondsey and Old Southwark (LON)

Stephen Gilbert - St. Austell and Newquay (SW)

Stephen Williams – Bristol West (SW)

Gerald Vernon-Jackson (G) – Portsmouth South (SE)

John Munro - Weston-super-Mare (SW)

Terry Stacy - Islington South & Finsbury (LON)

Dave Page - Manchester Gorton (NW)

Paul Hodgkinson – Cotswolds (SW)

Steven Lambert – Aylesbury (SE)

Adrian Trett – Vauxhall (LON)

Janice Spalding – Basingstoke (SE)

Steve Sollitt – Havant (SE)

David Lee - East Surrey (SE)

Giles Goodall – Wealden (SE)

Ben Mathis - Hackney South & Shoreditch (LON)

Peter Brooks – Orpington (LON)

Alan Bullion – Sevenoaks (SE)

Paul Childs - Liverpool Riverside (NW)

CallumDelhoy – Daventry (EM)

James Harrison - Glasgow North West (SCOT)

Andy Graham – Witney (SE)

Zoe O'Connell (T) – Maldon(EAST)

CadanapTomos - Cardiff West (WALES)

Stuart Bonar - Plymouth Moor View (SW)

Lee Dargue - Birmingham Edgbaston (WM)

Euan Davidson - Aberdeen North (SCOT)

Josh Dixon - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (LON)

Kevin Michael Peter McNamara - Ealing North (LON)

Andrew Martin - Bolton West (NW)

Alisdair McGregor - Calder Valley (YORK)

Ross Pepper – Lincoln (EM)

Chris Young - Glasgow Central (SCOT)

Stewart Golton - ElmetRothwell (YORK)

Stephen Glenn – Sedgefield (NE)

Richard Gadsden – Blackley and Broughton (NW)

Mark Argent – NW Leicestershire (EM)

Victor Chamberlain - Wythenshawe and Sale East (NW)

David Evans – Banff and Buchan (SCOT)

SNP Candidates

Stewart McDonald – Glasgow South (SCOT)

John Nicolson - East Dumbartonshire (SCOT)

Martin Docherty – West Dumbartonshire (SCOT)

Joanna Cherry – Edinburgh SW (SCOT)

Mhairi Black - Paisley and Renfrewshire S (SCOT)

Angela Crawley – Lanark and Hamilton East (SCOT)

Stuart McDonald - Cumbernauld, KilsythKirkintilloch East (SCOT)

Plaid Cymru Candidates

Vaughan Williams (G) – Llanelli (WALES)

Mike Parker (G) – Ceredigion (WALES)

Harri Roberts – Swansea West (WALES)

UKIP Candidates

David Coburn – Gordon (SCOT)

Nathan Garbutt – Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (YORK)

Richard Hilton – Mitcham and Morden (LON)

Gary Shores – Beverly and Holderness (YORK)

Peter Whittle – Eltham (LON)

Richard Hendron – Brentford and Isleworth (LON)

Green Candidates

Grant Bishop (G) - Birmingham Yardley (WM)

Matt Cooke (G) – Torfaen (WALES)

MartynCurzey (G) - Aldridge Brownhills (WM)

Will Duckworth (G) - Dudley North (WM)

Gabby Garcia (L) – Leicester South (EM)

Stella Gardiner (T) - Bexleyhealth and Crayford (LON)

Sam Gibbons (G) - Newcastle Under Lyme (WM)

Tim Goodall (G) - Leeds North West (YORKS)

Andrew Gray (G) - Newcastle East (NE)

Rebecca Johnson (L) - Hampstead and Kilburn (LON)

David Kirwan (G) – Broxtowe (EM)

Charlie Kiss (T) – Islington South and Finsbury (LON)

Jazz Mahal (B)- EalingSouthall (LON)

TamsinOmond (L) - East Ham (LON)

Will Patterson (G) - Wigan (NW)

Victoria Percival (B) - Boston & Skegness (EM)

Storm Poorun (G) - Lewisham East (LON)

Anne Power - Wyre and Preston North (NW)

Lorna Tooley (B) – Romford (LON)

Marion Turner-Hawes (L) - Wellingborough (EM)

Lee Williscroft-Ferris (G) - Hexham (NE)

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Candidates

Andrew Muir – North Down (NI)