Five tiny crumbs of comfort from the utterly depressing general election result

It's very easy to feel thoroughly depressed today after Boris Johnson's Tory Party swept the board in the general election.  The Conservatives gained 47 seats to give them a resounding Commons majority.   Meanwhile the Labour Party's vote share collapsed by nearly eight points and Jeremy Corbyn looks to be on his way out.   Lib Dem Remainers were left disheartened by the loss of their leader Jo Swinson's seat to the SNP in Scotland.  There's now going to be a long period of soul-searching among the defeated political parties, especially Labour.  But we've done our best to find reasons not be feel completely demoralised by the outcome.  Here are five crumbs of comfort in an otherwise thoroughly depressing general election result... There's now a record number of female MPs  A record 220 women will take up seats on the green benches in the new parliament.  This is 34% of the whole House of Commons, although there's still a long way to go before we hit the 50% mark.  There are now more women Labour MPs than men - with 104 to 98 - and women outnumber men in the Lib Dems' small tribe too.  But only a quarter of Tory MPs are female - 277 to 87. 2. The "three red ladies" of Wandsworth  Labour's Marsha de Cordova, the shadow disability minister who is registered blind, won the Battersea constituency in west London.  Meanwhile Dr Rosena Allin-Khan kept her seat in neighbouring Tooting, while Fleur Anderson made the only Labour gain of the night by winning Putney next door.  Their three constituencies make up the London borough of Wandsworth.  Dr Allin-Khan said in her victory speech: “We have three red ladies in Wandsworth.” 3. Zac Goldsmith was booted out  Tory Zac Goldsmith has lost his Richmond Park seat in one of the most high profile scalps of the night.   In 2016 he stood unsuccessfully as the Tory candidate for London Mayor, in a campaign beset by accusations of racism towards Labour rival Sadiq Khan .  Boris Johnson appointed him a minister of state for International Development earlier this year. 4. Nigel Farage's party failed to get any seats - again   The Brexit Party didn't win a single seat, continuing Nigel Farage's long history of failure in general elections.   Ukip also won nothing in the 2015 general election when he was leader - and he's also failed personally to become an MP seven times.  Farage has vowed the Brexit Party will cease to exist as we know it and become the Reform Party.  It will campaign to abolish the House of Lords and change the first-past-the-post voting system. 5. The Tories lost a lot of seats in Scotland  In 2017, the Tories gained 12 seats north of the border - building on the single member they already had in Scotland.  This put them ahead of Labour in the country for the first time ever.  Now though, this number has been more than halved after the Tories lost seven Scottish MPs in a single night, taking them back down to six. Five tiny crumbs of comfort from the utterly depressing general election result
General Election results,Labour Party,Conservative Party,Zac Goldsmith,Sadiq Khan,Nigel Farage,Boris Johnson,Politics,General election

General Election results,Labour Party,Conservative Party,Zac Goldsmith,Sadiq Khan,Nigel Farage,Boris Johnson,Politics,General election,