John McDonnell said he wanted a woman to become the next leader of the Labour party, a day after senior party figures were accused of failing to take allegations of sexual harassment seriously enough.

The shadow chancellor defended Labour’s record on representation of women, pointing out that the party was the first to have a gender-balanced shadow cabinet and had more female politicians than any other political party.

More than 100 female politicians from around the world, from Afghanistan to the Vatican, will sit in the House of Commons for a landmark event to mark the centenary of women first winning the right to vote in the UK.

Is the Westminster harassment and bullying scandal nearing its endpoint? Is there a plan out there that will bring Parliament out of the stone age as a workplace? A working group is about to report on the proposed new scheme that will govern what happens when staff make HR complaints. Having reviewed their proposals, the answer would be: no.

Political parties should be required to publish details of their election candidates by gender to highlight the "shameful" gap in numbers between men and women, campaigners are arguing.

The Centenary Action Group, which wants equal representation in Parliament, said a lack of information meant it was harder to hold parties to account.

They say ministers are able to force compliance under the 2010 Equality Act.

Women across the UK have marched together to create a living artwork, to mark 100 years since the first British women won the vote.

Women in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London donned the colours of the suffragette movement - green, white and violet - as part of a mass procession.

One hundred female artists worked with local communities to create banners for the marches in the four cities.