IN one sense, Labour’s determination to get more women into Parliament is laudable. We’re approaching the end of the second decade of the 21st century - and yet still fewer than a third of our MPs are women.

We need to do more to increase the diversity of those occupying the green benches in the mother of Parliaments, so as to make it more representative of the population as a whole. Labour clearly see all-women shortlists as one way of achieving this.

Rachael Maskell became York Central MP in 2015 after being selected from an all-woman shortlist. And now Labour have decided to impose an all-woman shortlist for York Outer at the next election.

This is one way of trying to achieve a better balance between men and women in the Commons. But it doesn’t seem particularly democratic. While local constituency party members were consulted, the final decision on the all-woman shortlist for York Outer was taken by Labour’s National Executive.

It also doesn’t seem particularly fair on Luke Charters-Reid, the young - and local - candidate for York Outer at the last election. He took a big bite out of Julian Study’s majority, reducing it from 13,000 to just 8,000. Labour now considers the seat, a natural Tory stronghold, as one of six key targets in Yorkshire at the next election. Mr Charters-Reid seems unruffled by the news he will not be able to fight the seat again. If he still hopes to become an MP, it would be nice to see him offered a winnable seat elsewhere.

But rather than adopting the heavy-handed method of deciding that men can’t even stand in certain seats, we’d like to see all political parties doing more to address the issues that make women so often reluctant to stand for Parliament in the first place.

That might include changing the boorish, aggressive culture in Parliament - and also doing something about the ridiculous, family-unfriendly hours MPs are expected to work.