The youngest MP elected in 350 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 approaching next year’s election she would have spent almost a third of her life in Parliament.