Only a quarter of new Conservative parliamentary candidates in England are women

Of the 68 constituencies that chose a candidate, 17 are women. Photo: Simon Walker/No. 10 Downing Street < p>Only one of the four new Conservative candidates chosen to contest seats in England at the next general election is women, The Telegraph reports.

There are currently 68 constituencies in England that do not have a sitting Conservative MP up for re-election. -the election chose a Conservative candidate, but only 17 of them were women.

Campaigners say the figure is significantly lower than in other recent cycles, when about a third of Tory candidates overall tended to be were women.

This comes after Greg Hands, chairman of the Conservative Party, said in September that he wanted half of all Conservative Party candidates to be women.

The fight to get women elected to next year's general election has caused alarm among some party insiders involved in the preparations.

Tory women trying for the first time to become deputies, also remained despondent. “I'm really worried. It's really demoralizing,” one of them told The Telegraph.

«We want to make progress towards a 50-50 parliament. If women don't even have a chance of getting on the long lists and being elected, how do we do that?»

Tory candidates need to be on the approved list, run by Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ). before applying for individual seats.

Any seats that do not have a Conservative MP, or seats that do have one but are not seeking re-election, are then open to party applications.

< p>CCHQ does not publish data on how many seats were open to applications or who was selected, meaning the full picture for the UK, including elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, cannot be established.

< p>But The The Telegraph understands that as of Monday around 68 seats in England had elected a new Conservative candidate.

The 17 female candidates selected included Poppy Simister-Thomas in South Norfolk, Fay Purbrick in Glastonbury and Somerton, Reva Goody in Feltham and Heston, Tessa Tucker in Exeter, Christy Adams in Mid Sussex, Lesley Meenaghan in South Portsmouth, Katie Lam in Wilde Kent, Rebecca Paul in Reigate, Hazel Sharp in Halifax, Pauline Jorgensen in Earley and Woodley, Pinder Chauhan in Bedford and Kempston, Rebecca Smith in South West Devon, Vanessa Lee in Calder Valley, Helen Edwards in Kingston, Marisa Heath in Dorking, Christy Adams in Mid Sussex and Sarah Gezdari in Richmond Park.

CCHQ does not dispute the accuracy of the figures.

'It's still early'

Baroness Jenkin of Kennington, co-founder of the Women for Victory campaign, which seeks to get Conservative women into Parliament, expressed disappointment but urged women applying not to give up.

She told The Telegraph: “My Message : Don't panic because it's still early. We obviously want to improve on the situation last time, when women made up more than a third of Tory candidates. The statistics as they stand at the moment look quite disappointing.

“I would encourage women on the shortlist to apply for places and also women who may have what it takes to make the move go ahead and get involved in politics. The selection process can be a frustrating process, but if you don't buy a ticket, you won't win the lottery.»

In the 2019 general election, around 51 per cent of elected Labor Party MPs were women.

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Mr Hands told the Tory House website in September: “This is an area of ​​great concern to me. And I fully support the party's commitment to 50/50 equality.»

A CCHQ spokesman declined to comment.