Women’s minister Harriet Harman to increase the number of female MPs

Women’s minister Harriet Harman has pledged to increase the number of female MPs.

Harman told guests at an Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) reception that she would work towards equal numbers of men and women in Parliament.

An EOC report this week warned it would take 195 years at the current rate of change for the proportion of female MPs to rise from 20% to 50%.

Bur Harman said: “We are not going to wait for 200 years for the gap between men and women in Parliament to close – absolutely not.”

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Harman also celebrated her recent appointment as deputy leader of the Labour Party as a victory for sisterhood.

“How wrong the bookies were!” she said. “It was basically lots of male political journalists working out which of the men would get the deputy leader position. They all got it completely wrong.”