There will be a record number of female MPs in the House of Commons after 208 women were elected in Thursday’s general election.

The 2017 parliamentary intake will outnumber the 196 women elected to the Commons in the 2015 election and subsequent byelections. The previous record for the number of women elected in a single general election was 191 in 2015.

Amber Rudd’s re-election took the 2017 figure past the 2015 total as she narrowly defended her Hastings and Rye seat after a strong challenge from Labour’s Peter Chowney. The home secretary, touted as a future Conservative party leader, won with a majority of just 346 after two recounts. The re-election of the Greens’ Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion took the tally over 200. The 208th was Emma Dent Coad, who took the last seat to be declared, Kensington, in a shock win for Labour.

It was not until 2015 that the total number of women ever elected surpassed the number of male MPs in a single parliament (454).

Justine Greening, Jenny Chapman, Kirstene Hair and Jo Swinson were just some of the winners and survivors of the 2017 election.

In Canterbury, Labour candidate Rosie Duffield beat the Conservatives’ 176 year tenure in the constituency by beating Sir Julian Brazier.

Duffield was recently chosen to be part of the first Jo Cox Women in Leadership Scheme, run by the Labour party in memory of the late MP.

Constance Markievicz became the first woman elected to the Commons in 1918 after the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act, which allowed women to stand. As a member of Sinn Féin she did not take her seat.



Sam Smethers, the chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “The number of women MPs in parliament has broken the 200 barrier for the first time. But while this is progress the fact remains that just 32% of our MPs are women, up from 30% before the election. We are moving forward at a snail’s pace and this is embarrassingly slow.

“It is time for a radical new approach. We have to legislate to require the parties to select at least 45% women candidates.”

Nancy Astor, a Conservative, was the first woman to take her seat in the Commons after winning a byelection in December 1919 for the Plymouth Sutton constituency. Thursday also marked 104 years to the day since Emily Davison died in the fight for women’s right to vote.

Davison became a symbol of women’s emancipation when she stepped in front of King George V’s horse at the Epsom racecourse in 1913. She is believed to have been attempting to attach a scarf or flag calling for women to have the vote on to the horse’s bridle. She died from her injuries four days later.

Woman at my polling station cheered when she walked in + saw a queue - democracy in action on the 104th anniversary of Emily Davison's death pic.twitter.com/igsZ58LBtt — Paula Reid (@paulamreid) June 8, 2017

The Women’s Equality party ran seven candidates in the 2017 election but failed to win a seat. Its most prominent candidate, the party leader Sophie Walker, ran against the Conservatives’ Philip Davies – who has voted against legislation designed to protect women from male violence and warned a men’s rights conference of the dangers of “feminist zealots”. However, Davies prevailed as she won just 1.9% of the vote, losing her deposit.