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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Guardian readers

Are you a young person thinking of entering politics?

Mhairi Black may not run at the next general election because she finds parliament a “depressing” place where “little gets done”
Mhairi Black may not run at the next general election because she finds parliament a “depressing” place where “little gets done”. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Very little gets done in Westminster, according to the youngest MP elected to parliament in more than 350 years.

Mhairi Black told the Sunday Post she had not got used to working in Westminster: “It has been nearly two years and I still hate the place,” she said. “It is depressing. It is the personal elements – it is a pain to come up and down every week and you are working with a number of people you find quite troubling.

“Professionally, it is more just that so little gets done. It is so old and defunct in terms of its systems and procedures – a lot of the time, it is just a waste of time.”

Black, who was 20 when she won the seat of Paisley and Renfrewshire South for the SNP from Labour’s Douglas Alexander in 2015, says she may quit after one term as MP.

Share your experiences

Whether you are hoping to go into politics, or already work in your local constituency or in Westminster we’d like to hear from you. What do you think the future of politics looks like for young people? What puts you off politics and, if you could, what changes would you make?

You can share your experiences by filling in our encrypted form below, anonymously if you wish. We will do our best to ensure your responses are kept secure and confidential. A selection of contributions will be featured in our reporting.

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