The House of Commons will induct a record 335 new MPs this week, the largest number in modern history. The number of newcomers to parliament surpasses the previous record of 327 in the 1945 election, which was held in the aftermath of the second world war and was the first election to take place in 10 years.F As well as the 335 new MPs, a further 15 people are returning to parliament after a period of absence, bringing the total number of those newly elected to 350. The figures are from the Commons library, which has records dating back to 1922. The 1997 election saw a comparatively much smaller new intake of 257, including some MPs returning after a gap in service. The Commons speaker will be elected, approved by the king and sworn in on Tuesday. Lindsay Hoyle, speaker in the last parliament, has Labour’s support so is guaranteed to be re-elected. MPs will start being sworn in by order of seniority immediately after the speaker on Tuesday, beginning with members of the cabinet. Members of the shadow cabinet, other privy counsellors and ministers will then be sworn in before backbenchers are called in order of length of service. The process is likely to last until Thursday. MPs have been invited to attend induction sessions on Tuesday on security, standards, protocol and how to run their office. Labour MPs – of whom there are 412 – attended the first meeting of the new parliamentary Labour party on Monday afternoon.
Addressing his MPs at the meeting, Keir Starmer said “people have placed their trust in us for now, but they’re not converts” and that his government had a “mandate for renewal”. The prime minister added: “Election victories do not fall from the sky. They are hard-won and hard-fought for and this one could only have been won by a changed Labour party.” Parliament will formally open on 17 July with the king’s speech, which will set out the government’s proposed policies and legislation for the coming session. Before the election, senior figures in both the Labour and Conservative parties had been mindful of the fact that their new intakes were likely to be relatively inexperienced. In total, 132 MPs in the last parliament chose not to stand at this election, 75 of whom were Conservative. The new parliament has broken a number of diversity records, including a record number of female MPs elected, according to Commons library figures. Women now make up 40.5% of the Commons, compared with 35% at the end of the last parliament. For the first time, there have been enough female MPs in history – 693 in total – to fill all 650 seats the Commons, according to a report by the Fawcett Society published on Tuesday. Broken down by party, 46% of Labour MPs are women, followed by 45% of Liberal Democrat MPs, 24% of Conservative MPs and 11% of SNP MPs. The second most common first name in the Commons is now Sarah, according to the report, although nine of the top 10 most common names are male. The name Chris now occupies top spot. Starmer’s cabinet is the most gender-equal ever, with women making up 12 out of 26 cabinet and cabinet-attending ministers. A record number of 90 minority ethnic MPs have been elected, an increase of 24, analysis of the election results by the British Future thinktank has found. Of the ethnic minority MPs, 50 are women. Additional reporting: PA Media