A 20-year-old student has become Britain's youngest lawmaker in centuries, defeating one of the country's most senior politicians to do it.
Mhairi Black of the Scottish National Party defeated Labour's Douglas Alexander in the seat of Paisley and Renfrewshire South. Alexander, 47, was the opposition Labour's foreign policy spokesman.
Thank you to everyone who turned out and voted for me and helping me win the Paisley and Renfrewshire South #voteSnP pic.twitter.com/nZqyO7C85G— Mhairi Black (@mhairi1921) May 8, 2015
She likes football, music and once marched against the Iraq War -- which began when she was just nine years old.
Here's how she describes herself on the SNP's website:
I was born in Paisley and have lived all my life there. I am a season ticket holder for Partick Thistle and have always been an ardent fan of football since becoming one of the first girls to play on my Primary School football team. I am also a great lover of music through both playing many instruments and listening to it.
I have always been politically motivated, particularly for the pursuit of social justice. I would participate from a very young age in marches such as that for a Scottish Parliament and against the Iraq war. I carried this interest through school and consequently into University where I am currently in my final year studying Politics and Public Policy at the University of Glasgow.
Politics is prevalent in all areas of life and it is for this reason I have also been volunteering for different organisations such as Oxfam for many years. I became actively involved during the referendum by campaigning and speaking at various events throughout the campaign. I also had the unique opportunity of travelling all over Scotland with The Margo Mobile campaign, going into some of the most deprived areas in the country. It was here that I witnessed first hand the level of poverty and injustice prevalent in our society. It is for this reason I am running as a candidate for the SNP as I truly believe that the only way to bring the powers we were promised, and the social justice that Scotland so desperately needs, is to have a strong group of SNP MP's at Westminster to ensure our voices are heard.
She is the country's youngest lawmaker since Christopher Monck, who entered Parliament in 1667 at age 13.
Love this photo of @mhairi1921 lets hope it is her generation on May 7th #thewho #voteSNP #VoteMhairi pic.twitter.com/3Sh5U1oRWv— Brian McGuire (@brianmcgui) April 20, 2015
Black is part of an SNP tide that is sweeping Scotland. The party, which supports independence for Scotland, had only six seats before Thursday's election. It is now forecast to take almost all of Scotland's 59 seats, most of them from Labour.