2017 general election result sees record number of female MPs voted in to Parliament

Home Secretary Amber Rudd is said to be the candidate whose re-election took the 2017 figure past the previous high of 191

Co-leader of the Green party Caroline Lucas (REUTERS)

Parliament will have its highest-ever number of female MPs following the general election.

The 2017 intake has already surpassed the 196 women elected to the House of Commons in the last Parliament after the 2015 election and subsequent by-elections.

The previous high of 191 women elected in a single general election, which occurred in 2015, has also been beaten.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd is said to be the candidate whose re-election took the 2017 figure to 192, as she narrowly defended her Hastings and Rye seat following a strong challenge from Labour's Peter Chowney.

It was not until the 2015 parliament that the total number of female MPs in history surpassed the number of male MPs in a single parliament (454).

Constance Markievicz became the first woman elected to the Commons in 1918 following the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act, which allowed women to stand as candidates.

She did not take her seat as she was a member of Sinn Fein.

Conservative Nancy Astor was the first woman to take her seat in the Commons after winning a by-election in December 1919 for the Plymouth Sutton constituency.

PA