Aged just 23, Nottingham East’s new MP Nadia Whittome has already shown she will be a force to reckon with in the House of Commons.
Last month we reported how the UK’s youngest MP has announced she will donate much of her salary to local charities until wages rise for nurses, firefighters and other public sector staff. She promised to “spark a conversation about earnings” by donating the lion’s share of her wages to Nottingham charities.
The UK’s youngest MP has said she does not feel welcome in the House of Commons as a “working-class woman of colour”.
In her blistering maiden speech, newly elected Labour MP Nadia Whittome, 23, said much in Parliament is “is designed to exclude and alienate working-class people.”
The so-called baby of the House – the name given to the UK’s youngest MP also accused politicians of using their drug experiences at university to “build street cred” while working-class people are criminalised for drug dealing.
Ms Whittle told her new colleagues in the House of Commons: “Historically so much happens in this building that is designed to exclude and alienate working class people.
“The old conventions, the antiquated language. As a working-class woman of colour, I’m made to feel like I don’t belong here unless I throw my community under a bus.
“But that’s not what I’m here to do. Because when I first saw the results of the exit poll last month these are the first people I thought about.
“My friends who are one delayed universal credit payment away from homelessness.
“My neighbour who goes without hot meals so her children don’t have to.
“My friend’s teenage brother who ended up in prison for dealing weed when he had no other job opportunities, while those here on the front benches can use their drug experiences at university to build street cred.”
The Nottingham East MP who had vowed to only take a “worker’s wage” of £35,000 and donate the rest of her MP’s salary of £79,468 to charities added: “Of course MPs do an important job. But care workers, like I was proud to be before I became an MP, also do an extremely important job.
“And when care workers, retail workers and NHS staff get their pay rise, I’ll take mine.”
‘If you don’t let us dream, we won’t let you sleep’
She also praised recent climate activism adding: “I’m also here to represent the burning planet and the generation that will be left to foot the bill and save it from catastrophic climate change.
“We’re a generation that is brave, collaborative and outward-looking. We’re determined to fight for a future in which everyone can breathe clean air and live well.
“These are not the whims of youth, they are the deadly serious response to an existential crisis and the moral bankruptcy of our economic system.
“My generation wants a future. We want a planet we can live on, wages we can live on and we want opportunities that make life worth living.
“And let me tell you something. If you don’t let us dream, we won’t let you sleep.”
Ms Whittome also paid tribute to her predecessor Chris Leslie, the former shadow chancellor who resigned from Labour to join Change UK last year, for his work supporting Gordon Brown in the Treasury.
READ MORE: Britain’s youngest new MP will take half of her salary until other public sector wages rise