On 6 February 1918, the Representation of the People Act was passed and gave some women the right to vote in the UK for the first time.

So today, 100 years later, I’m celebrating my right to vote! I’ve made sure I’ve exercised that right at every election since my 18^th birthday.

It’s interesting to note that recent research by the Electoral Commission showed that:

• three quarters of women say they always vote at general elections;
• two in three women were motivated to vote by civic responsibility at the 2017 Parliamentary general election; and
• women were four times more likely than men to say that ‘people fought to win them the right to vote’ as a motivation for casting their ballot.

You can find out more about the Electoral Commission’s own Your Vote Matters centenary celebration. But you’ll also see a number of other celebrations to mark the centenary taking place across the country today.

I was also able to pay tribute to the Women’s Cooperative Guild who were stalwart campaigners for the right of women to vote. You can see my question in Parliament here: