Survey reveals political gulf on equality and diversityA new survey has revealed a gulf between the UK’s main political parties over their support for action of women’s equality.

The data from the Fawcett Society, which asked those standing for parliament at the general election taking place on May 6th and the party leaders, revealed that of the three main parties, 23.1 per cent of Labour candidates committed their support.

By comparison, 19.9 per cent of Liberal Democrat’s 456 people running to win seats in the House of Commons were offering to add their weight to possible intervention whereas just 2.6 per cent of Conservatives, or 15 out of 568 individuals asked, pledged to back action on the issue.

Significantly, more than half (53.4 per cent) of the Green Party’s 279 candidates in the UK would support moves to improve gender equality.

Fawcett’s chief executive Ceri Goddard said the figures spokes for themselves despite the fact that many people seeking election have campaigned on fairness and yet are not willing to support any action on relevant issues such as a gender pay gap.

Most polls ahead of tomorrow’s election point to the Conservatives becoming the largest party and possibly securing a small overall majority.

By Hayley Edwards