WHAT DOES THE NEW LABOUR GOVERNMENT MEAN FOR WOMEN?

By Phoebe Ann Brooks

Photo credit: Chris McAndrew // UK Parliament

The UK woke up this week to a new government and a new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who led Labour to a historic landslide victory — the party won 412 seats, up from 202 seats in the last election.

The Conservatives took a major hit, losing 251 seats, including prominent party members, such as former PM Liz Truss, former leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt, former education secretary Gillian Keegan, and Jacob Rees-Mogg.

The Green Party secured all four targeted seats, doubling its predicted two-seat win in the exit poll.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party also managed to secure five seats, eight seats fewer than predicted by the exit poll. However, Farage himself won a seat as MP for Clacton, getting elected after eight failed attempts.

During his first speech as prime minister on Friday, Starmer said: “Work is urgent, and we begin it today.”

But what does this mean for women in Britain?

As of this morning, there is more female representation in the House of Commons than ever before: with at least 242 female MPs there is now a record number of female lawmakers in Starmer’s new government, surpassing the previous record set in 2019 when 220 women were elected.

However, whether this will be reflected in law, policy, and culture is another question.

Whilst we play the waiting game, take a look at some of the key points Labour has highlighted as its promises to women.

Representation

Starmer’s cabinet will have the highest number of state-educated and female ministers in history, including Angela Rayner as Deputy MP, Rachel Reeves as Chancellor, and Yvette Cooper as Home Secretary.

Online Abuse

Labour pledges to “build” on the Online Safety Act in order to improve image-based abuse laws and ban the creation of sexually explicit “deepfakes”.

Abortion Rights

There is no specific mention of abortion access in Labour’s manifesto, but Starmer has previously voted in favour of implementing buffer zones around abortion clinics, legalising abortion in Northern Ireland and legalising abortion up to twenty-four weeks.

Maternity Mortality Crisis

The party pledges to improve the maternity health care crisis with plans to train “thousands more midwives” and “set an explicit target to close the Black and Asian maternal mortality gap”.

Childcare

Labour aims to create 3,000 new nursery spaces in England and introduce free breakfast clubs in primary schools.

Women in the Workplace

Labour pledges to strengthen maternity and menopause rights against workplace discrimination and say they will “take action to reduce the gender pay gap”, though no context is offered as to how.

LGBTQIA+

Whilst Labour had promised “dignity and respect for everyone in Britain” in respect of LGBTQIA+ rights, Starmer u-turned on this pledge mid-campaign, saying: “I’ve always said biological women’s spaces need to be protected.”