New research finds that this year there has been a 2% increase in the level of women candidates in the English metropolitan authorities.
Research by Counting Women IN coalition partner, the Centre for Woman and Democracy, has found that 31.8% of candidates in local elections this year are women, the highest number since all-out elections in 2004, although given that the low point was 29.6% in 2010 the variation is very small.
Labour has the highest percentage of women candidates (41%) with the Liberal Democrats at 34% and the Conservatives at 28%.
The 36 metropolitan authorities cover many of the the cities in the north and midlands of England and between them have a population of over 22 million.
The full report on can be downloaded here.
Or for information about the number of women candidates in Scotland see this new blog by By Dr. Meryl Kenny (UNSW) and Dr. Fiona Mackay (Edinburgh).
