Gender

A record number of female candidates stood in terms of both absolute numbers and percentage of candidates: 1,020 (26.1%), up from 854 (21.1%) in 2010.^[5][6] The proportion of female candidates varied by region: 26.6% in Wales, 26.2% in England (30.4% in London), 25.6% in Scotland, and 23.9% in Northern Ireland.^[5] The proportion of female candidates was lowest in eastern England (21.6%).^[5]

Parties with the highest proportion of female candidates were the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (41%), the Greens (in England and Wales and Scotland) (38%), and the SNP (36%).^[7] The party with the lowest proportion was UKIP (12%).^[7] The constituency with the most female candidates was Camberwell and Peckham in south London, where five women and four men were standing.^[7] In 120 constituencies, no female candidate stood.^[7]

Occupation

University College London's Parliamentary Candidates UK project^[8] evaluated the background of 2015 general-election candidates (excluding incumbent MPs) from the seven major parties: Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, UKIP, Plaid Cymru, the SNP, and the Greens.^[9]

The project found that 26% of candidates contesting the 2015 general election were political professionals (defined as those currently working as advisers, researchers, party officials, trade unionists or lobbyists).^[9] The parties with the highest percentage of political-professional candidates were the SNP (47%), Labour (33%), and Plaid Cymru (33%); the party with the lowest percentage of political-professional candidates is UKIP.^[9] The parties with the highest proportion of lobbyist candidates are the Conservatives (27%) and the Liberal Democrats (21%).^[9]

The party with the highest percentages of candidates from a business or commercial background was UKIP (37%) and the Conservatives (21%); the lowest is the Greens (15%).^[9] The party with the highest percentages of candidates in professions such as law and teaching are the Liberal Democrats (16%) followed by Labour (12%).^[9]

The Conservatives have the largest number of researcher candidates (12), but the SNP has the largest percentage of researcher candidates (five researchers, or 8% of its candidates).^[9] Some 23% of Labour candidates work in trade unions.^[9] The Liberal Democrats have the highest percentage of candidates who sit on local councils (53%), followed by the SNP (43%) and UKIP (40%).^[9]

Age

According to UCL's Parliamentary Candidates UK project, the average age of the candidates for the seven major parties is 45; there is substantial deviation among the parties, with Conservatives having the youngest average (41) and UKIP the oldest (52); in the middle are Labour (43) and the Liberal Democrats (47).^[10] Among marginal seats—those constituencies that are highly contested—UKIP and the Liberal Democrats both have a lower average age for candidates (44) than for all seats in general, while the Conservatives, Labour, and Greens all have slightly older candidates in such seats than for seats in general.^[10]

The youngest candidates are Solomon Curtis, 18, of Labour, standing in the safe Conservative seat of Wealden; Niamh McCarthy, 18, an independent, standing in the safe Labour seat of Liverpool Wavertree; Michael Burrows, 18, of UKIP, standing in Inverclyde, Scotland; Declan Lloyd, of Labour, standing in South East Cornwall; and Laura-Jane Rossington, 18, of the Communist Party of Britain.^[11][12][13] The youngest Conservative candidate is Taylor Muir, 19, standing in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.^[11] The youngest candidate who became an MP in the election is Mhairi Black, 20, of the SNP,^[14] who became the youngest MP since 1667 (prior to the Acts of Union) after she defeated Labour's Douglas Alexander in the Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituency.^[10] Tracy McVeigh,^[15]

The oldest candidate is Doris Osen, 84, of the Elderly Persons' Independent Party (EPIC), who is standing in Ilford North.^[12] Other oldest candidates standing in the election include two longtime Labour MPs standing for reelection: Sir Gerald Kaufman, 84, of Manchester Gorton, and Dennis Skinner, 83, of Bolsover.^[10]

Ethnic background

According to UCL's Parliamentary Candidates UK project, of the major parties, the major parties had the following percentages of black and ethnic minority candidates: the Conservatives 11%, the Liberal Democrats 10%, Labour 9%, UKIP 6%, the Greens 4%.^[16] About 17% of the British population as a whole identifies as black or ethnic minority.^[16] Neither UKIP nor the Greens selected a black or ethnic minority candidate to stand in a seat viewed as winnable.^[16] The Green leader, Natalie Bennett, stated that "I would agree that our percentage of BME candidates is disappointing and it's something we very much want to focus on."^[16]

A total of 158 British Asians (i.e., Britons of South Asian descent) stood for election: 111 men and 47 women.^[17] The Conservatives are standing 36 British Asian candidates, Labour 34, the Liberal Democrats 32, UKIP 21, the Greens eight, the Communities United Party four, the SNP one, and assorted other parties 17.^[17] Five British Asians stood as independents.^[17] British Indians are the largest non-white ethnic grouping in Britain, and the votes of the British Indian community were seen as critical.^[18]

The 2015 election featured the first Sikh candidate to stand in a Northern Ireland constituency: Amandeep Singh Bhogal, a Conservative standing in Upper Bann.^[19][20]

Former MPs standing against each other

Unusually, three former MPs competed against each other in a single seat, Northampton North.^[21] There, Conservative Michael Ellis, who was elected to the seat in 2010; Labour candidate Sally Keeble, who was a Labour MP for the seat from 1997 to 2010; and Green candidate Tony Clarke, who was a Labour MP for neighbouring Northampton South from 1997 to 2005 before leaving the party, are all competing against each other.^[21] It is not unusual for two former MPs to compete in an election (often a rematch), but it is rare for three former MPs to contest a single seat.^[21]