Stirling Uni student (19) is Labour’s choice
Labour have selected a Stirling University student to contest the Stirling seat in December’s General Election.
Nineteen-year-old history and politics undergraduate Mary Kate Ross would be the youngest MP in the country if elected.
She would also be the youngest MP elected to the House of Commons since the early 19th century.
Originally from Motherwell, she comes from a Labour family. Her father is a former North Lanarkshire Labour councillor.
Ms Ross is also the vice chairperson of the Labour students’society and the chairperson of the Stirling University Tenants Housing Association.
She said:“Stirling is now my home and I want to represent Stirling as your MP in Westminster. I moved to Stirling two years ago because I was attracted to the city, the university and the possibilities of a fantastic life here at the heart of Scotland.
“I cannot think of anything better than committing my career to ensuring Stirling has another strong and vibrant
Labour champion, as it did for so long under Anne McGuire.
“I live in the city and I am a keen champion of tenants’ rights because I believe everybody, no matter their age or circumstances, deserves a warm, secure home.
“This election is about the future I will fight to ensure everybody has a good job paying a fair wage and a safe place to come home to at night.
“If elected to be Stirling’s MP, I will stand up for all of Stirling’s communities and I will ensure that everybody, regardless of their age, has a bright and fair future.”
When elected in May, 2015, to the seat of Paisley and Renfrewshire South, the
SNP’s Mhairi Black was 20 years and 237 days old. That made her the youngest ever Member of Parliament elected to the House of Commons since at least the Reform Act of 1832, replacingWilliam Wentworth-Fitzwilliam who was 20 years and 11 months old when elected in 1832.
Labour’s Anne McGuire held the Stirling seat from May 1, 1997, until she stood down before the 2015 General Election when SNP candidate Steven Paterson won the seat with a majority of more than 10,000 over Labour’s Johanna Boyd. Conservative candidate in that election, Stephen Kerr, won the seat with a majority of 148 at the poll two years later.