“Democracies around the world are under pressure so we all have to ensure our democratic institutions are as robust as they can be,” said Maria Miller MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Women in Parliament.

“Diverse parliaments are shown time and time again to be key to a strong democracy. Yet, Fawcett’s research shows that while important changes have been made in the House of Commons, progress towards a more diverse House of Commons is ‘far too slow’. The research identifies, for the first time, a concerning disconnect between the majority of democratically elected members and the culture of the House of Commons, with less than half of MPs saying that the culture in parliament is inclusive for people like them, falling to just one in three for women MPs.”

In a bid to combat these issues, the Fawcett Society is calling for parliament to be modernised, stating that “the systems, workload, culture and abuse that currently run through our democratic institutions are substantial barriers to women’s participation in politics.

“We run the risk of these things pushing MPs, particularly women and minoritised people, to leave Westminster prematurely.”

“Exclusionary culture” risks pushing women out of politics, new report finds