The Live Wire



Press Release

Tory candidates for general election still wholly unrepresentative of the UK workforce

10 November 2009

Less than 1% are from the six lower occupational groups employing 56% of the UK workforce

96% of Tory candidates at next general election are still from the top three occupational groups according to a new GMB study of the 537 candidates and existing MP selected to stand. Of these selected candidates no less than 63 are drawn from the banking and finance industries.

Shown in the table below is the occupational analysis of all the 537 people already selected to stand for the Tory Party at the next election. In the notes to editors below is the list of the 63 candidates from the banking and finance industries. Of the 63 from this industry 26 are bankers.

The table shows that 269 candidates, or more than half, are from the top occupational group managers and senior officials. In the workforce as a whole this group accounts for 15.6% of the workforce. 193, or 35.9%, are from professional occupations which make up 13.1% of the workforce. 56, or 10.4%, come from associate professional and technical occupations which accounts for 14.6% of the workforce. Less than 1% come from the six lower occupational groups employing 56% of the UK workforce according to the study. For the occupations in each group go to notes to editors at the foot of this release and find the standard occupational classification 2000

Table: Previous and current occupations of Conservative MP's and PPC's

Standard Occupational Classification 2000

Number of Tory candidates

% of total

current % in the GB workforce

1

Managers and Senior Officials

269

50.1

15.6

2

Professional Occupations

193

35.9

13.1

3

Associate Professional and Technical Occupations

56

10.4

14.6

4

Administrative and Secretarial Occupations

2

0.4

11.4

5

Skilled Trades Occupations

0

0

10.7

6

Personal Service Occupations

1

0.2

8.3

7

Sales and Customer Service Occupations

0

0

7.5

8

Process, Plant and Machine Operatives

1

0.2

7.0

9

Elementary Occupations

0

0

11.3

students

3

0.5

not known

12

2.2

Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary said "Tory candidates remain wholly unrepresentative of the UK workforce. These are not people who operate in the real world. It is alarming that they still come from such a thin and well heeled layer of our society. This is about the privileged seeking formal control of the country. Perhaps we should widen all MP's experience by forcing them to take real jobs in public transport, in hospitality and in the NHS and they can see what life is like from the other side of the counter."



Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.

GMB

GMB

More from Dods

© Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd