3min chapter

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The UK Election: 2. How Are Candidates Selected?

Understand

CHAPTER

Impact of all women's shortlists on the Labour Party and potential changes in the upcoming election

Exploring the success and influence of all women's shortlists in the Labour Party, resulting in a surge of female Labour MPs elected in 2019, and looking towards the upcoming election as a potential turning point with retiring and new MPs.

00:00
Speaker 2
How do you think history will judge all women's shortlists in the Labour Party? Pros and cons. Well, they've worked.
Speaker 1
I mean, in 2019, a majority of Labour MPs were women, just about 50, 51, 52% of the Labour MPs elected. And indeed, because of that, Labour have had to abandon the policy of some seats. I should explain what all women's shortlists are really. Basically, the Labour Party decided that certain constituencies, the only people who could apply were women. So men weren't allowed to apply in those seats. So there would be a shortlist drawn up that was all women. And that led to the 2019 election, where a majority of the parliamentary Labour Party were women. Also, just finally, this election,
Speaker 2
irrespective of the outcome, is going to be one of those watershed moments where just loads of people have laughed and loads of new people are coming in. Yeah, I mean, it could be as
Speaker 1
many as half. I mean, if Labour were to get a huge majority, you could see more than half. I mean, we know that it's well over 100 MPs are retiring. Well, if you get another 200 who lose their seats and that could happen, then you could see the biggest change in the House of Commons since 1945. Michael, thank
Speaker 2
you very much. Thank you. And that's all for this episode of Understand the UK Election. On the next one, we're going to be talking about party manifestos, those lists of promises and pledges. And we'll be asking how important they are to the parties, and more importantly, to the voters. And you can find more of our episodes on BBC Sounds. Just search for understand the UK election. And if you would like to keep up to date with the day -to -day, blow -by -blow events in the campaign, you can listen to my other podcast, Newscast. See you again soon, bye. This
Speaker 1
is a story about one of Britain's most revered institutions and the theft of ancient treasures that were sold around the world. It felt like a real punch to the stomach. My God, things are being stolen from our museum. I'm Katie Rassell, and from BBC Radio 4, this is Thief at the British Museum. At the heart of our tale is an antiquities dealer turned amateur detective, thrown into the centre of a global scandal. I was shocked. I remember that, the thing that my hair stood on in. Search for Shadow World, Thief at the
Speaker 2
on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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