UK's youngest MP vows to donate more than half her £79k salary to charity

The country’s youngest MP has vowed to donate a huge chunk of her salary to charity.

Labour’s Nadia Whittome won the Nottingham East seat for Labour at the general election on Thursday - taking home 25,735 votes.

The 23-year-old, who grew up as the "daughter of working class immigrants", has announced she will only be accepting a “worker’s wage” of £35,000 after tax, with the rest being donated to local charities.

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Ms Whittome told Nottinghamshire Live: "It's not about philanthropy and it's not that MPs don't deserve that salary, it's the fact our teaching assistants, nurses and firefighters do as well.

"When they get the pay rise they deserve, so will I. I hope this decision sparks a conversation about earnings.”

Nadia Whittome, 23, was elected as the Labour MP for Nottingham EastNadia Whittome, 23, was elected as the Labour MP for Nottingham East
Nadia Whittome, 23, was elected as the Labour MP for Nottingham East

She reflected on Labour’s poor performance in the election.

'Lessons to learn'

"We [Labour] have lessons to learn and need a period of reflection to look at the issues that went wrong,” she said.

"This election was ultimately about Brexit. We tried to cut through that and talk about other issues in the country.

Labour leader Jeremy CorbynLabour leader Jeremy Corbyn
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

"I reject that this is the fault of the left or because we were too Remain.

"I will work to tackle the vast inequality people will face. The next five years are about protecting local services, doing what we can to protect our right and to tackle inequality.

"I would like to thank everybody who voted for me, spoke to me on the doorsteps, let us use their community centres to campaign and to all the activists who secured this Labour win in Nottingham city."

The Conservatives came in second in the constituency, with 8,342 votes, a slight fall from last time round when they won 8,512.

Robert Swift came third for the Liberal Democrats with 1,954 votes - almost double the 1,003 the party got last time round.

The Nottingham East constituency has been held by Labour since 1992.