A 20-year-old from Paisley, a working class town in the west of Scotland, has become a symbol of Scotland’s dissatisfaction with politics as usual — particularly with the Labour Party.
Mhairi Black, a Glasgow University student and the Scottish National Party’s candidate for Paisley and Renfrewshire South in the UK general election, claimed a huge victory over sitting Member of Parliament Douglas Alexander. He is a member of the opposition shadow Cabinet and head of the nationwide Labour election campaign.
Her election will make her the youngest British member of Parliament since 1667.
Landslide win
Her 23,548 votes outstripped her opponent, one of Labour’s biggest-hitters north of the border, and overturned his 16,610 majority. Alexander ended the night with 17,864 votes.
“I want to thank the people of this constituency for placing their faith in me and for their faith within the SNP,” Black told supporters during her acceptance speech.
“Whether you voted for SNP or not, whatever your views are on the future of Scotland, I will seek to represent you and everyone in this constituency to the very best of my ability. This election is about making the voice of this constituency, and the whole of Scotland, heard more effectively at Westminster than ever before.
“I pledge to use this voice not just to improve Scotland, but to pursue progressive politics for the benefit of people across the UK.”
Pursuit of social justice
Black — a Paisley native, politics undergrad and supporter of Partick Thistle Football Club — says that she has long been politically motivated, “particularly for the pursuit of social justice.”
From a young age, she would march for causes as diverse as support for a Scottish parliament and opposition to the Iraq war. She was also an ardent campaigner for Scottish independence last year.
She says that she “witnessed first hand the level of poverty and injustice prevalent in our society,” touring some of the country’s most deprived areas with the Margo Mobile campaign, a campaign vehicle that toured some of the most deprived housing estates and working communities across Scotland during the independence referendum.
It was this experience that led her to seek a seat in Parliament, and for Scotland, the referendum heralded a shift in political awareness.
“Over the two years of that referendum campaign it was a political awakening,” she told CNN’s Phil Black. “It forced people to engage and think about arguments and try and articulate arguments and look for quality.”
Traditional Labour heartland
Scotland, with its progressive, left-of-center politics and commitment to social justice, has long been a traditional heartland for Labour, but voters have expressed their dissatisfaction with policies that they feel do not do enough to distinguish the party from the Conservatives, who have been in power since 2010.
The shift has benefited the Scottish National Party, which appears resurgent following the independence referendum, which the party strongly backed. After losing that vote 45% to 55%, the party is set to make gains all across Scotland. They have taken the seat o fScottish Labour leader Jim Murphy’s seat as well as that of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Long-safe Labour seats continue to fall to the Scottish National Party, including Glasgow North.
Taken for granted
She says that Scottish voters are fed up being taken for granted by Labour for so long.
“The Labour party has changed,” she told Black ahead of the election. “Labour has abandoned all its principles. My family used to be Labour.”
Buoyed by her come-from-behind victory, she pledges to make her constituents’ dissatisfaction known down south.
“The people of Scotland are speaking, and it’s time for their voices to be heard at Westminster. I make this promise to the constituents of Paisley and Renfrewshire South: That is exactly what I plan to do.”
The SNP’s remarkable showing in Scottish seats in this general election might very well raise the question of Scottish independence once again, although leader Nicola Sturgeon has said that even if the party were to win every seat in Scotland — which is now no longer a possibility — it would not represent a mandate.