Youngest MP in 300 years quits and blasts ‘toxic Westminster environment’

Mhairi Black said Parliament is ‘outdated, sexist and toxic’

The youngest MP elected in over 300 years is quitting at the next election, blasting Westminster’s “toxic environment”.

Mhairi Black said Parliament is “one of the most unhealthy workplaces you could ever be in” and said she is stepping down because she is “tired”.

The SNP’s deputy leader in Westminster, who was elected in 2015 aged 20, said it is a “poisonous place”.

She told Global’s News Agents podcast: “I am stepping down at the next election.

“I am tired, is a big part of it, and the thing that makes me tired is Westminster is one of the most unhealthy workplaces you could ever be in.

“It is a toxic environment. Just the entire design of the place and how it functions is just the opposite of everything that I find comfortable.

“It’s definitely a poisonous place. Whether that’s because of what folk can get away with in it or the number of personal motivations and folk having ulterior motives for things, and it is just not a nice place to be in.”

Ms Black is the sixth SNP MP to say they will not contest the next election.

Former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she was “gutted” by the announcement but “entirely understanding”.

Mhairi Black said Westminster is a ‘poisonous place’ (Getty Images)

She added: “Her reasons resonate. But what a loss of a unique talent, not just to the SNP, but to politics generally.

I only hope it’s temporary. The world needs more Mhairi Blacks in politics, not fewer.”

In a candid interview, Ms Black said you “can never really switch off” in Westminster.

She added: “It is difficult to know if somebody, certainly from other parties, is talking to you because there is a genuine relationship there or whether they are looking for opportunities.

“Given the unsociable hours that Westminster works as well, it feels like you are spending a lot of your life there.”

Ms Black said she got “the ick” having realised that at next year’s election she would have spent almost a third of her life in Parliament.

“I don’t regret spending any of the time doing what I have done, I am fighting for what I believe in,” she said.

But she added that her youth was the reason she could “see everything that is wrong so starkly”.

And, asked whether the job “ate up her adolescence”, she denied having missed the opportunity to “go and get pissed”.

“I managed to fit that in every now and then,” she added.

In a seperate resignation statement, Ms Black said she has “always maintained how outdated, sexist and toxic” Westminster is, adding that she had “no desire to have a long career in politics”.

And she highlighted the damaging impact of her career on the lives of her loved ones, which have been “turned upside down and inside out”. “Between media attention, social media abuse, threats, constant travel and the murders of two MPs, my loved ones have always been in a constant state of anxiety for my health and safety,” she added.

Ms Sturgeon’s successor Humza Yousaf described Ms Black as “a trailblazer” who “inspired a generation”.

He said: “A passionate supporter of independence who is deeply committed to advancing social justice.

“Look forward to working closely with Mhairi who will undoubtedly continue to make an immense contribution to our cause.”

Fellow SNP MP and the party’s former Westminster leader Ian Blackford has also said he will stand down at the next election.