Women in politics
St Ives has not had a female Member of Parliament since 1928. Philippa thinks that it is about time this trend is broken.
It is important to Philippa, as a young woman, to see more women populating the House of Commons. She is proud of the efforts of the Labour Party to get more female members into Parliament, but she is saddened that this hard work may be undone by a Conservative administration.
The table below clearly illustrates the pitiful gap between Labour and Conservatives on this issue.
28% of Labour MPs were women after the 2005 election.
A mere 9% of the Conservative intake at the same time were women.
Women MPs by Party
Number:
| Lab | Con | LD | Other | |
| 1987 | 21 | 17 | 1 | 2 |
| 1992 | 37 | 20 | 2 | 1 |
| 1997 | 101 | 13 | 3 | 3 |
| 2001 | 94 | 14 | 5 | 3 |
| 2005 | 98 | 17 | 10 | 3 |
Percentage of party total:
| Lab | Con | LD | Other | |
| 1987 | 9% | 5% | 5% | 9% |
| 1992 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 4 |
| 1997 | 24% | 8% | 7% | 10% |
| 2001 | 23% | 8% | 10% | 17% |
| 2005 | 28% | 9% | 16% | 10% |
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snSG-01528.pdf
Philippa believes it is time that St Ives returned a female MP to Westminster to ensure that local schoolgirls growing up do not form the misguided view that representing a constituency at the House of Commons is a job for the boys.
Philippa was selected by the local CLP to be the Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for the Constituency of St Ives in May 2008. 