The Guardian view on Labour’s revolution: legitimising its power requires rebuilding trust | Editorial

The new parliament better reflects a modern Britain that politicians have ignored for too long

Seeing a Labour prime minister speak from the dispatch box in parliament sealed an electoral coup executed in the quiet of the country's polling booths last week. The proceedings in the House of Commons on Tuesday revealed the scale of the revolution that SirKeir Starmer led. Out of 650 parliamentarians elected, 335 have never been an MP before.

Parliament now looks more like Britain. The Commons is the most diverse ever in terms of race and gender. Black, Asian and ethnic minority lawmakers will make up about 13% of the total, up from 10% in 2019. There are a record 242 female MPs, 22 more than after the last election. The Labour leader pointed out that the Commons now has the largest cohort" of LGBTQ+ MPs of any parliament in the world. It was heartening to see Sir Keir break with convention to praise the mother of the house, Diane Abbott, Britain's first black woman MP, who was almost blocked from standing as a Labour candidate. It may be a trick of the light, but the nation feels a better place.