What will the House of Commons look like after the general election?

As yet another Conservative MP announces his intention to stand down, Sean O’Grady asks if the sheer scale of the predicted Tory wipeout could mean the end of parliament as we know it

James Heappey, the MP for Wells in Somerset, has told his constituents he will stand down at the next election (PA)

We don’t know when the general election will come, or who will win, albeit we can make some fairly safe guesses. However, what is as near to certain as can be is that the next House of Commons will look, sound and behave very differently from the present one.

The preponderance of mostly male Conservatives standing down or facing likely defeat – and the sheer scale of that defeat, coupled with an influx of more gender-balanced and diverse Labour candidates – means that the next House will have a record number of female MPs, and more people from an ethnic minority background than ever before. It will also be younger, feature more members from LGBT+ communities, and, dare one say it, be more “woke” and open to newer ways of running parliamentary debates, dress codes, hours of work and much else. We are on the brink of a dramatic change...

Who’s leaving?