during the
Pride in London 2016 parade
2015 The party did not field any candidates in the
2015 general election, but planned to do so when the next election was assumed to be in 2020. Walker told
BBC Radio Wales'
Sunday Supplement programme that the party would be taking a
non-partisan approach to elections, stating that "We will be undertaking consultations with our members and deciding which seats to target". Figures from the party suggested that there was a possibility that an existing
Member of Parliament (MP) might defect to the party before the party contested an election, citing the example of how the
UK Independence Party got its first MPs.
2016 Following various fundraisers, the party was able to field candidates in the 2016 London elections (Walker in the
Mayoral election, plus candidates for the
London Assembly);
Scottish Parliament election,
Glasgow region (Anne Beetham, Susan Mackay, Ruth Wilkinson, Calum Shepherd, Penelope Haddrill, Carol Young) and
Lothian region (Lee Chalmers, Jennifer Royston, Catriona MacDonald and Abigail Herrmann); and the
Welsh Assembly election in
South Wales Central (Sharon Lovell, Emma Rose, Sarah Rees and Ruth Williams). Supporters of the WEP's election bid included:
Emma Thompson,
Lily Allen,
Hugh Quarshie,
Tanya Moodie,
Philippa Perry,
Jack Monroe,
Jo Brand,
Rosie Boycott and
Caitlin Moran. The WEP did not win any seats in the elections: Walker gained 53,055 votes (2.04%) in the first round of voting for
London mayor. The party's best result was on the
London-wide list where it finished sixth with 91,772 votes (3.5%). Anne Beetham gained 2,091 votes (0.8%) in
Glasgow and Lee Chalmers gained 3,877 votes (1.2%) in
Lothian. Overall the WEP obtained 5,968 votes, 0.3% of the Scottish vote. Sharon Lovell, Emma Rose, Sarah Rees and Ruth Williams gained 2,807 votes, 1.2% of the total vote in
South Wales Central. The overall total number of votes cast for the party in Scotland, Wales and London was 350,000.
2017 Tabitha Morton from
Netherton stood in the
Liverpool City Region mayoral election. She came seventh, receiving 4,287 first round votes (1.5%). In the
2017 general election the party stood seven candidates. None was elected, and all lost their deposits. The best result among them was by Sophie Walker coming fourth in
Shipley against the sitting Conservative MP Philip Davies, a men's rights and anti-political correctness campaigner. The party targeted Davies's seat because of his role in blocking legislation that would have implemented better support for domestic violence victims, and because of his public comments about women, people with disabilities and LGBT people. Academics Emily Harmer and Rosalynd Southern write that: "Targeting Davies was controversial due to fears over potential vote-splitting and the fact that the WEP failed to engage with local feminist groups". The full list of WEP candidates in the 2017 general election is below:
2018 The party put up candidates in more than 30 elections in the
local elections of 2018. None were elected. Mandu Reid stood as a candidate for the WEP in the
2018 Lewisham East by-election; she came fifth out of the 14 candidates, receiving 506 votes (2.3%).
2019 General election The party put forward three candidates at the 2019 general election, all of whom lost their deposits, due to winning a low number of votes. These constituencies have previously had an
MP suspended from his respective party because of allegations of sexual assault or harassment, although all three MPs that had been accused did not seek re-election. Two prospective WEP candidates in
Sheffield Hallam and the
Cities of London and Westminster stood aside to support the
Liberal Democrats after they agreed to implement a WEP policy to challenge two MPs, one accused of writing sexist messages online and the other of grabbing and manhandling a female environmental protester.
Local elections The party put up candidates in more than 20 of the
local elections of 2019. The party saw its first councillor, Kay Wesley, elected. Wesley was standing as the sole Women's Equality Party candidate and received 1250 votes (a 5.7% share of the vote) to represent the East Ward on
Congleton Town Council.
2020 In January 2020, Mandu Reid was announced as the party leader following her role as interim leader since early 2019.
2021 Reid was the party's candidate for the
2021 London mayoral election on 6 May 2021, having replaced Sue Black, who had to withdraw for health reasons. Reid finished tenth in the mayoral election with 21,182 votes (0.8%). The party also stood on the London-wide list in the
2021 London Assembly election, coming fifth with 55,684 votes (2.2%), a fall compared to their previous result. It also stood 3 candidates in the
Lothian region (coming tenth with 0.3%, down 0.9% from the previous election) and 4 candidates in the
Glasgow region (coming tenth with 0.3%, down 0.5% from the previous election) for the
2021 Scottish Parliament election. Hannah Barham-Brown stood for the Party in the
2021 North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner by-election, finishing fifth with 8,837 (10.2%) of the first-round votes. The election was called following the resignation of
Philip Allott, following widely criticised comments he had made about
Sarah Everard.
2022 The party stood two candidates in the
2022 City of London Corporation election, both of whom came last in their wards. Harini Iyengar received an 11.1% share of the vote in the ward of Bread Street out of four candidates, while Alison Smith received a 3.2% share of the vote in the ward of Portsoken out of seven candidates.
2023 The party stood 14 candidates in the
local elections of 2023. Kay Wesley was re-elected to
Congleton Town Council for the South East Ward (925 votes, a 12.2% share and 43.3% voters supporting on multi-vote ballot) and a second party candidate, Susan Mead, elected in Congleton North East (702 votes, a 15.3% share and 45.7% voters supporting on multi-vote ballot). Wesley narrowly missed election to
Cheshire East Council by 19 votes (polling 1132, an 11.5% share and 30.2% of voters choosing WEP on multi-vote ballots). WEP Candidate Stacy Hart came second in Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, with 925 votes to the Conservatives' 1000 (36.8% vote/voter share).
2024 On 8 April, Women's Equality Party candidate Sarah Pattison was appointed to
Stinsford Parish Council in Dorset, in an uncontested election. In the
2024 general election, the party put forward four candidates: ==Membership and local organisations==