Webchat with Mhairi Black MP, Tuesday 12 January 11am-12pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce that the SNP’s Mhairi Black MP will be joining us at MNHQ on Tuesday 12th January between 11am and 12 midday. She’d particularly like to talk about the ‘Women Against State Pension Inequality’ campaign - see below for more details on that.

Mhairi Black is SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South and is the current ‘Baby of the House’ - the youngest member of the House of Commons. After joining the SNP in 2011 Mhairi was elected at the age of 20 in the 2015 General Election, whilst completing her undergraduate degree in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Glasgow. Her maiden speech made headlines, partly for the rule-breaking applause which followed it.

In support of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign, Mhairi secured a debate in the House of Commons on state pension age increases that some say discriminate against women born on or after 6th April 1951, calling the situation “grossly unfair”. The campaign is calling for the reversal of the decision to delay the retirement age for women born in 1953-1954 - you can read more about this here.

Please do join us on the day or leave a question here in advance - and as ever, please remember our Webchat Guidelines: one question per poster, and please do be polite.

Thanks
MNHQ

[SoWhite]

Mairi, I have a politics and international relations undergraduate degree and continue to work in a related field. Throughout my career, I have heard people working in other disciplines say disparaging things about studying the social sciences. How well do you think your degree prepared you for Westminster life?

[Figwin]

Is it 11am -12pm or 11pm to midnight (am)? Just don't want to miss it

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Do you find that being female, young, and an SNP member means you get less respect from other MPs? If so, which of these is most detrimental to people taking you seriously?

Or are the Houses of Parliament actually a bastion of equality and respect?

(I think you are awesome BTW )

[SonyaAtTheSamovar]

An important issue to get a debate on. It is so patently unfair to move the retirement age at such short notice.

On a personal note : good on you Mhari, it is great to see you, a young passionate woman in parliament.

I am happy to be in the UK and think Westminster is a rather good parliament. Are you open minded enough to rethink your belief in Scottish independence? Gwaan!

[tallwivglasses]

The way I see it, when women achieve equal pay and equality in the workplace, only then should equal retirement ages be considered. What do you think of that argument? I'm pretty sick of people saying of course retirement ages should be equal, when we're far from equal in this society. Maybe I'm bitter, having brought up two children with minimal contribution from their dads and now being told I have to wait 11 years til I retire, instead of the original 4 😡
(I think you're marvellous, btw)

[CormoranStrike]

Mhairi, take independence out of the equation (please!).

Without that do you still identify with SNP policies as a whole? What UK national party do you most identify with?

[HirplesWithHaggis]

She's just starting out, she's not a "career" anything yet, ffs. Or was she previously a "career" chipshop worker? And what has this to do with pensions for women?

[RJnomore1]

I'd like to hear cormorants question answered please.

Also I'd like to know why she thought she was able to represent her electorate.

[HirplesWithHaggis]

Er, her electorate thought she's able to represent them, that's why they elected her.

What's with the ad hom stuff, are you all too young to care about pensions for women? Sheesh, so much for sisterhood.

[CormoranStrike]

I actually fully believe she can represent her electorate, she seems intelligent and compassionate, two values I rate; age can't I still those.

However, I wish she was in another party. Or, better still, that we lived in a magical land with no need for party politics, just sensible governance.

[RJnomore1]

I wanting to know from her what made her think she was able to represent the electorate. Not from you. Cheers.

[CormoranStrike]

I get that, I was just enjoying some healthy debate; but you are right this is a thread for our questions and get answers.

[CormoranStrike]

*her, not get

[RJnomore1]

Sorry cormorants not just aimed at you.

I've got another one actually.

Mairi I'm a Celtic fan and an ex season book holder. I also am a senior manager in a local authority, educated to masters level and the chair of a multi million pound charity. Would you you like to apologise publicly for your #scum at this point?

[RJnomore1]

[CormoranStrike]

rj me again. I don't think your comment needs deletion, her youthful outburst on Twitter is well documented, though I have no evidence of whether it was documented accurately. You make your case well, though, in explaining that tarring a sector of society with one brush is not wise.

[RJnomore1]

Thanks cormorant. I'd like to think she would take the chance to distance herself from it.

[RJnomore1]

I'd really like to hear the answer to your question actually.

[Baconyum]

The pension issue afaik doesn't just affect women born in the 1950's. Agree with the comment on not having equality of pension age while we still don't have equality in pay, conditions and employability.

As it happens I have a family member who is born in the 1950's who was a carer for 30+ years and has been treated appallingly by the govt in terms of pension but also benefits.

Mhairi will my daughter (15) even begin to see any kind of equality during her working lifetime while govt is still largely populated by wealthy, white men?

[MintChocAddict]

< gets enough popcorn from the cupboard to last until Tuesday >

[SirChenjin]

Sits on hands. Fights urge to type. Hides thread.

[TrollTheRespawnJeremy]

Do you feel that you are taken seriously as a Scottish politician?

I feel that the media and some political parties like to paint us as a crowd of incapable backwater people.

Rather than an independent Scotland, I'd rather see London taken out of the British equation as Cities in Scotland have more in common with cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle (to name but a few.) As an independence supporter what would you say to our Liverpudlian/Manc/Geordie friends whose day to day lives and financial worries are identical to our own?

[MintChocAddict]

Mhairi, I have great admiration for you and thought your maiden speech was fabulous. I also like the rule breaking in Parliament 😉.
I agree with you wholeheartedly about pension age for women.
However I would though like to ask you about last year. (I was undecided at the start of the independence campaign and voted no in the end) I found the underlying aggression of the YES campaign and the blatant aggression of many of its followers to be fairly horrifying and the idea that if you were voting no (this applied to the majority of Scots as it turned out) somehow meant you were anti-Scottish in some ludicrous way. It was deviciv and damaging to our country and I don't think it's recovered yet. At the time I felt that the leadership of the party dealt with this in a half hearted fashion and condemned behaviour only as a result of public/media expectation and not because they believed it to be wrong. It made my decision very easy in the end.
What are your views on this looking back now?