Meet Layla Moran, Britain's first ever MP of Palestinian descent

Layla Moran is one of a number of MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds
Layla Moran is one of a number of MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds

The 2017 General Election has result in the most diverse parliament ever with a rise in the number of women, LGBT and ethnic minority MPs elected.

Among those taking a seat in Westminster include Layla Moran, Britain’s first ever MP of Palestinian descent.

Moran gained Oxford West and Abingdon from Nicola Blackwood following a swing of almost 15 points away from the Conservatives.

The former physics and maths teacher also became the first female Liberal Democrat MP from a minority background.

She said: “Politics was always at the dinner table, it primed me to engage.

“De facto, I will be a representative of our community in parliament, and it will be a great honour, which I take humbly.”

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Preet Gill became the first female Sikh MP after winning Birmingham Edgbaston for Labour, while Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi became Britain’s first turbaned Sikh MP after being elected to Slough for Labour.

Labour’s Afzal Khan is also Manchester’s first Muslim MP.

There are now 45 MPs who openly define themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) — a 40 per cent increase on 2015.

There are 52 MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to think tank British Future (32 Labour; 19 Conservatives; one Lib Dem).

Steve Ballinger, director of communications for British Future, said: “It’s got to be good for politics that gradually Parliament is getting closer to looking a bit more like the electorate that it serves.”

He added: “I know there are calls within the Conservative Party to do better in that respect.”

The new intake also includes five disabled MPs, an increase of three on the last term.

Labour’s Marsha de Cordova, who in Battersea, is registered blind, and Jared O’Mara, who has cerebral palsy, won Sheffield Hallam from Nick Clegg.

Robert Halfon, who has cerebal palsy and osteoarthritis, and Paul Maynard, who also has cerebal palsy, were reelected for the Conservatives.

Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Lloyd, who is deaf, has returned to parliament after losing his seat in 2015.

There are also a record number of female MPs in the House of Commons after 208 women were elected.