New MP says cancelled exams inspired him to get into politics

A 22-year-old new MP has said he hoped to use his “direct experience” of problems in schools to help “revitalise” them.

Sam Carling, Labour MP for North West Cambridgeshire and the youngest member of the House of Commons, had his A-level exams cancelled during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is what he said inspired him to get into politics.

In his maiden speech in the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Carling paid tribute to his predecessor, Conservative MP Shailesh Vara, whom he beat at the recent general election by 39 votes.

He told the Commons: “I was in the first cohort of students whose A-level exams were cancelled during the pandemic, and in many ways it was that experience that politicised me.”