When elected in May 2015, she was 20 years and 237 days old, making her the youngest MP elected to the House of Commons since the
Reform Act of 1832, the previous record having been held by
William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, who was 20 years and 11 months old when elected in 1832.[6] Black was the youngest member of the House from 2015 to 2019.[7] She stood down as an MP at the
2024 general election.[8]
Although she was reported to be the youngest MP since
Christopher Monck, Earl of Torrington, who entered the House of Commons at the age of 13 in 1667, Monck was followed by other teenagers until the
Parliamentary Elections Act 1695 established 21 as the minimum
age of candidacy.[14] Furthermore, until the
Reform Act 1832, underage MPs were seldom unseated, not least because in those times it was easy to fabricate one's age due to lack of records today commonplace, and patronage usually prevented their unseating. For example,
Viscount Jocelyn was 18 when elected in the
1806 general election.[15][16] Since the
Electoral Administration Act 2006 reduced the age of candidacy from 21 to 18 years, Black is the first person to be elected under its provisions.[17]
On 1 July 2015, it was announced that Black had been appointed to the
Work and Pensions Select Committee.[18] She made her
maiden speech on 14 July 2015 and this included some criticism of the government's approach to unemployment in her constituency and the growing need for
food banks. She said, "Food banks are not part of the
welfare state. They are a symbol that the welfare state is failing."[19] Black also criticised the government over cuts to
Housing Benefit.[20] Within five days of her giving this speech, it had been viewed over 10 million times on various media.[21] Black was later made aware of the change in the state pension through her constituents,[22] and has since endorsed
Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) on several occasions.[23][24]
Black is a long-standing critic of Westminster. Two months following her election, she commented that the practice of making MPs vote in person, instead of electronically, was "outdated and wasted time".[25] In a 2016 interview with Guardian journalist
Owen Jones, Black labelled Westminster as an "old boys' club" and "so excluded from reality", while expressing concern about the arrogance and sexism from other MPs.[26]
In June 2016, Black introduced a Private Members' Bill entitled Benefit Claimants Sanctions (Required Assessment) Bill. It received its second reading in December 2016, but did not proceed to any further stages.[27][28]
At a public meeting in November 2016 in Aberdeenshire, Black said of the
EU referendum: "If I'm honest, there was an element of holding my nose a bit when I voted Remain."[29] One member of the audience told The Daily Telegraph, "I'm not sure she would have said it in Glasgow. She was sitting in the most
Eurosceptic corner of Scotland."[29]
She also dismissed the claim of the pro-independence campaign in 2014 that Scots would be £5,000 better off if they voted Yes as "mythical".[29]
In 2017, Black considered not standing for a second term in the next general election, expressing her frustration that "so little gets done",[30] and that "it is a pain to come up and down every week".[31] Despite this, Black stood at the
2017 general election and, despite a backlash among voters to Sturgeon's plans for a second independence referendum,[32] was re-elected with a reduced majority.[33][4][34]
In April 2017, Black was heckled by protestors who were angry at the decision of the Scottish Government to close the sick children's ward at the
Royal Alexandra Hospital in her constituency.[35] One local parent told the press, "I am not at all happy. Ward 15 saved my little boy's life when he was only five days old. It's about children's lives".[36]
Black stood again in the
2019 general election as the SNP candidate for Paisley & Renfrewshire South[39] and was elected with over half the vote, increasing her majority to 10,679 votes or 24.8% - more than double that in the 2015 general election.[40]
In March 2020, it was reported that Black had a "blazing row" with her SNP colleague,
Joanna Cherry, after the latter questioned her decision to visit a primary school with a drag queen.[41][42]
In December 2022, she became Deputy Leader of the SNP at Westminster.[2]
On 4 July 2023, Black announced that she would not seek re-election as an MP at the
2024 general election.[43] On The News Agents podcast, she called Westminster "one of the most unhealthy workplaces you could ever be in" and "a toxic environment".[44] On the eve of the
2023 Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election she reportedly threatened to quit the SNP.[45] This was over her wishes to be succeeded as SNP
candidate by her senior adviser Robert Innes.[46]
Political views
Black describes herself as a "traditional socialist", citing
Tony Benn as her enduring political hero - despite his opposition to Scottish independence.[47][48] Her other political inspirations include
Keir Hardie and
Margo MacDonald.[49]
Black is a strong critic of the
Conservativegovernment's rollout of
Universal Credit, maintaining that delays in payments have serious negative effects on claimants, and she is critical of how loans must be paid back later.[50]
According to The Tablet she is a
Catholic.[56] Despite this, Black has said that she is "not religious" although she "reads her Bible".[57]
She plays the guitar and piano, as was revealed in a Channel 4 News interview with
Jon Snow, on 18 September 2015, during which she played the theme music from the film Titanic.[58]
^Porritt, Edward; Porritt, Annie Gertrude (Webb) (1903).
"XI:Minors and aliens on the exclusion list". The unreformed House of Commons; parliamentary representation before 1832. Vol. 1: England and Wales. Cambridge University Press. pp. 222–235.