What are the new SNP candidates like?

The backgrounds of the 59 Scottish National party candidates for the House of Commons in next month's UK general election often vary considerably from the Westminster average.

No SNP candidate attended university at Oxford or Cambridge; more (one) went to Harvard. In contrast, 165, or 27 per cent, of MPs from the three biggest UK-wide parties elected at the 2010 election went to Oxbridge. Only three of the SNP candidates attended an English university, according to official biographies, other public sources of information or the candidates themselves.

The most popular university among aspiring nationalist MPs was the University of Glasgow, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon's alma mater, whose debating chamber has for decades honed the rhetorical talents of Scottish politicians. Eleven Glasgow graduates - as well as two current students - are seeking to follow in the footsteps of the doyenne of Scottish nationalism,Winnie Ewing.

The employment history of the SNP candidates encompasses jobs from comedy club founder to former first minister. When defined broadly to include evidence of any previous full-time job in fields other than politics, local government, charities, education and the NHS, nearly six out 10 of SNP candidates can be said to have experience of the private sector. Using a similar definition, Dods, the political intelligence firm, estimates that roughly two-thirds of the overall 2010 intake had worked in the private sector.

In "The British General Election of 2010", edited by Dennis Kavanaghand Philip Cowley, the academic Byron Criddle analysed the primary occupations of MPs before they entered parliament. Mr Criddle estimated that a quarter of MPs from the three biggest parties worked in "business", a field including finance workers, company executives and management consultants. Viewed this way, about one-quarter of the SNP cohort has a business background, a higher share than the 2010 Liberal Democrat (19 per cent) and Labour MPs (8 per cent), but a smaller fraction than for the Conservatives (41 per cent).

One trend that the SNP candidates could emphasise is the growing number of MPs who arrive at Westminster with political experience. Fourteen per cent of the overall 2010 intake had worked in politics before becoming MPs. Among the 59 SNP candidates there are 16 councillors, one former member of the Scottish Parliament, and at least nine who have worked for MSPs. Then there is the current MSP who says he will keep his Holyrood seat if he wins election to Westminster - Alex Salmond.

The average age of SNP candidates is 45 years, lower than the norm forincoming Westminster MPs, which has averaged between 49 and 51 since 1979. As well as being younger, a higher share of the SNP candidates are women: 21 out of 59 (36 per cent), which compares favourably with the MPs elected in 2010 from Labour (31 per cent), Conservatives (16 per cent ) and the Liberal Democrats (12 per cent).

Only one of the SNP candidates is from a "black, minority ethnic" background, a fact that also reflects Scotland's relative lack of ethnic diversity. The 2011 census found that approximately 4 per cent of Scots were non-white. In England, the equivalent figure was 14 per cent.

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