Local elections: Lack of women candidates sparks representation row

Frances Scott said that lack of women candidates was in part due to selection committees

A lack of female candidates in a county's upcoming local elections has sparked a row over representation.

Less than a third of prospective North Yorkshire county councillors are women.

Campaigners say the imbalance will make it "nigh-on impossible" for those elected on 5 May to reflect the population they serve.

But political groups in the county argued the issue was largely caused by the lack of women coming forward.

There are 90 seats up for grabs in May's ballot, which will happen just before the largest change in local government in North Yorkshire for 50 years.

The area's county and district councils will be scrapped in April 2023 and replaced with one unitary body.

Councillors will move to the new authority after a year to serve for a further four-year term.

Frances Scott, founder of the 50:50 Parliament group, which is dedicated to enabling women to progress in politics, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service society needed to question why half of North Yorkshire's population was unable or choosing not to participate in the election.

Ms Scott said selection committees - panels charged with choosing each group's candidates - were partly to blame.

"We tend to choose in our own image and what we have seen before as the image of a politician," she said.

She said family support was also important if those hoping to go into local politics were to succeed.

"We need men to be supportive of women going into these roles," she said.

Voters in North Yorkshire will elect 90 councillors to county hall in May

A spokesman for the Conservative Whitby and Scarborough group said its selection policy was "absolutely gender-neutral" and only one woman who stood was not selected.

"We can only put forward female candidates if female candidates apply," he added.

In Richmond, a Liberal Democrat spokeswomen said women faced more practical and emotional barriers, with many already juggling family and work commitments.

While a Labour spokesman in the area said the gender imbalance was partly because established councillors, most of whom were male, were more likely to be selected due to their experience.

"We have a policy of pushing women forward, but as a small party it's more a matter of finding who is willing to stand," a Green spokeswoman added.