Even if you're feeling hopeless after Thursday's general election result, there are some glimmers of positivity to be drawn from our new crop of MPs.
This time around, the UK has elected a record 220 female MPs – up from 208 in 2017 and 191 in 2015. This doesn't mean, though, that the House of Commons is close to being gender-balanced because 220 MPs equates to just 34% of the overall total.
And while 104 of Labour's 202 MPs are women – more than half – just 87 of the 365 Conservative MPs are women. That equates to fewer than one in four.
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However, Wales elected its first three female Conservative MPs, Sarah Atherton, Virginia Crosbie and Fay Jones. And successful Conservative candidate Selaine Saxby will become the first woman to represent North Devon.
The SNP has twice as many male MPs as female: 32 to 16. Of the Liberal Democrats' 11 MPs, just four are female.
Our new parliament is also more ethnically diverse than ever before. According to the i, the UK has elected a record 65 non-white MPs, meaning that 10% of MPs in the new parliament will be from a black and minority ethnic background. In 2017, this figure was just 8%.
Once again, this doesn't mean that the new House of Commons will fully reflect the UK population. According to the most recent census, which took place in 2011, 14% of people in the UK are from a black and ethnic minority background.
Meanwhile, LGBTQ news site Pink News reports that the British parliament is "still the gayest in the world" with 45 out LGBTQ MPs – the same number as in 2017. The site says there are now 20 Conservative MPs who are openly LGBTQ, as well as 15 Labour MPs and 10 SNP MPs.
However, none of the trans or non-binary candidates who stood on Thursday were elected, meaning that parliament will still contain no trans or non-binary MPs at all.
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