Mhairi Black, 20-year-old student representing the pro-independence Scottish National Party.
London:
At 20, Mhairi Black from Scotland has emerged as Britain's youngest MP, but she is yet to pass her Scottish politics final exam.
Black, politics undergraduate and new MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, will visit the House of Commons for the second time today.
Her first visit happened during a family trip to London as a teenager.
Black - along with a record number of 55 other Scottish National Party MPs - will be in London today to begin her life as a parliamentarian.
"It'll be a bit different this time," she told a foreign newspaper after her victory in the May 7 polls, defeating shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander.
"Honestly, when it started, I thought it was highly unlikely, but I thought at least we can put up a good fight and make the SNP a presence in the constituency," she said.
But as the campaign wore on, that changed: "I thought 'this could happen', because people are really angry at the Labour party and they wanted change."
Asked whether that realisation scare her, she said, "No". "It was real excitement, that we could actually change things."
The daughter of a local businessman and a teacher, Black, who has an elder brother, grew up in Paisley. She only became actively involved herself during the independence referendum campaign, joining the SNP after last September's no vote.
"The thing that got me fired up [during the referendum campaign was standing listening to people pouring their heart out to you, telling you how much they were genuinely struggling. You're used to hearing statistics about poverty, but then you realise these aren't numbers, these are people's lives, filled with anxiety and struggle."
When she is officially sworn in on May 18, she will become the youngest member of parliament since at least the 19th century.
Black, now in her third year of a politics and public policy degree at Glasgow University, says she has been lucky that this last semester has mainly required coursework.
There is one final exam left, which she will sit at the end of May. When asked what subject the exam is for, burst out laughing: "Scottish politics!"
Black, politics undergraduate and new MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, will visit the House of Commons for the second time today.
Her first visit happened during a family trip to London as a teenager.
Black - along with a record number of 55 other Scottish National Party MPs - will be in London today to begin her life as a parliamentarian.
"It'll be a bit different this time," she told a foreign newspaper after her victory in the May 7 polls, defeating shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander.
"Honestly, when it started, I thought it was highly unlikely, but I thought at least we can put up a good fight and make the SNP a presence in the constituency," she said.
But as the campaign wore on, that changed: "I thought 'this could happen', because people are really angry at the Labour party and they wanted change."
Asked whether that realisation scare her, she said, "No". "It was real excitement, that we could actually change things."
The daughter of a local businessman and a teacher, Black, who has an elder brother, grew up in Paisley. She only became actively involved herself during the independence referendum campaign, joining the SNP after last September's no vote.
"The thing that got me fired up [during the referendum campaign was standing listening to people pouring their heart out to you, telling you how much they were genuinely struggling. You're used to hearing statistics about poverty, but then you realise these aren't numbers, these are people's lives, filled with anxiety and struggle."
When she is officially sworn in on May 18, she will become the youngest member of parliament since at least the 19th century.
Black, now in her third year of a politics and public policy degree at Glasgow University, says she has been lucky that this last semester has mainly required coursework.
There is one final exam left, which she will sit at the end of May. When asked what subject the exam is for, burst out laughing: "Scottish politics!"
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