The 2024 general election brought wins for LGBTQ+ candidates new and old. Getty)
As predicted, the general election led to a seismic shock to the representation of LGBTQ+ MPs in the House of Commons.
56 out LGBTQ+ MPs were elected on 4 July, representing 8.6 per cent of the total MPs: 46 Labour MPs, 4 Liberal Democrats, 4 Conservatives, 1 Scottish Nationalist and 1 Green.
29 were incumbents, while 27 are new MPs. This is a decline from the pre-election high of 67 LGBTQ+ MPs in the House of Commons. At dissolution there were 27 who had been elected as Labour MPs, 26 Tories, 12 Scottish Nationalists and two Liberal Democrats. But after decades of parity between Tories and Labour, the new parliament will look entirely different.
Labour’s 46 out LGBTQ+ MPs represent by far the largest party cohort of any parliament, anywhere in the world. They constitute 11.2 per cent of the governing party. Labour made gains unheard of in the history of LGBTQ+ representation anywhere in the world. All 23 incumbent Labour MPs were re-elected alongside 23 new LGBTQ+ Labour MPs.
The Tory LGBTQ+ caucus was decimated by an even larger proportion than the party’s overall number of MPs. Paul Holmes and Stuart Andrew were able to win the safer Tory seats of Hamble Valley and Daventry after leaving their marginal seats of Eastleigh and Pudsey, which were both lost.
Former Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, held his seat of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale after both he and his SNP challenger saw their votes decline by 13 per cent. The only new LGBTQ+ Tory MP is Blake Stephenson, who held Mid Bedfordshire with a dramatically reduced majority.
The SNP LGBTQ+ caucus, long the jewel of Scotland’s parliamentary representation, was decimated. Of the 12 SNP MPs before the general election, only Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) retained her seat.
The Liberal Democrats elected four out MPs: Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton), Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon), Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) and Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage).
The Green Party Co-Leader, Carla Denyer (Bristol Central), is the first out LGBTQ Green MP and first out party leader in the House of Commons.
The last parliamentary LGBTQ+ caucus was made up of 73 per cent men and 27 per cent women. In the new parliament there 18 women who identify as LGBTQ+ (32 per cent). No non-binary candidates were elected.
The number of out transgender and non-binary candidates decreased from ten in 2019 to eight in 2024. Amidst a climate of increasing transphobia, these candidates had a torrid time.
Emily Brothers, a predicted winner in Isle of Wight East, came fourth with only 18 per cent of the vote. All bar one trans candidate dramatically underperformed against their party’s national performance.
Here are all the out LGBTQ+ MPs elected at the 2024 general election:
Labour (46)
Angela Eagle: Wallasey
Ashley Dalton: West Lancashire
Cat Smith: Lancaster and Wyre
Charlotte Nichols: Warrington North
Chris Bryant: Rhondda and Ogmore
Clive Betts: Sheffield South East
Damien Egan: Bristol North East
Dan Carden: Liverpool Walton
Gerald Jones: Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdale
James Murray: Ealing North
Kate Osborne: Jarrow and Gateshead East
Keir Mather: Selby
Kim Leadbeater: Spen Valley
Luke Pollard: Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
Nadia Whittome: Nottingham East
Nia Griffith: Llanelli
Olivia Blake: Sheffield Hallam
Peter Kyle: Hove and Portslade
Simon Lightwood: Wakefield and Rothwell
Stephen Doughty: Cardiff South and Penarth
Stephen Morgan: Portsmouth South
Steve Reed: Streatham and Croydon North
Wes Streeting: Ilford North
Daniel Aldridge: Weston-super-Mare
James Asser: West Ham and Beckton
Antonia Bance: Tipton & Wednesbury
Polly Billington: East Thanet
Deirdre Costigan: Ealing Southall
Tom Hayes: Bournemouth East
Josh MacAlister: Whitehaven and Workington
Luke Murphy: Basingstoke
Luke Myer: Middlesborough South and East Cleveland
Michael Payne: Gedling
Steve Race: Exeter
Tim Roca: Macclesfield
Tom Rutland: East Worthing & Shoreham
Oliver Ryan: Burnley
Alan Strickland: Newton Aycliffe & Spennymoor
Olivia Bailey: Reading West & Mid Berkshire
Danny Beales: Uxbridge & South Ruislip
Martin McCluskey: Inverclyde & Renfrewshire West
Ben Coleman: Chelsea and Fulham
David Burton-Sampson: Southend West & Leigh
Rachel Taylor: North Warwickshire & Bedworth
Josh Newbury: Cannock Chase
Lloyd Hatton: South Dorset
Conservative (4)
Paul Holmes: Hamble Valley
David Mundell: Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
Stuart Andrew: Daventry
Blake Stephenson: Mid Bedfordshire
Liberal Democrats (4)
Layla Moran: Oxford West and Abingdon
Sarah Dyke: Glastonbury and Somerton
Josh Babarinde: Eastbourne
Olly Glover: Didcot & Wantage
SNP (1)
Kirsty Blackman: Aberdeen North
Greens (1)
Carla Denyer: Bristol Central
Andrew Reynolds is the author of The Children of Harvey Milk: How LGBTQ Politicians Changed the World (Oxford University Press).
Data: LGBT Labour, LGBT Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, Green Party of England and Wales, Green Party of Scotland, the Scottish National Party.