Coronavirus: MP Nadia Whittome returns to care work

Britain’s youngest MP says she will donate earnings from part-time job to Covid-19 support fund

Britain’s youngest MP has returned to her former job as a care worker to help tackle the coronavirus crisis.

Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome announced she would donate her earnings from the part-time role to a local Covid-19 support fund.

The 23-year-old Labour politician said she was returning to her pre-parliament job because the care system is “in serious danger of falling apart at the seams” because of the global pandemic.

She added in a video posted on Twitter: “I’m returning part-time to my previous job as a care worker because social care is in crisis.

“This is an act of solidarity with my colleagues who are already working so hard and will be struggling under the increased pressure and with elderly people who are at higher risk if they do contract coronavirus.

“I’ll be continuing with my role as local MP and I’ll donate my earnings from my care work to the local Covid-19 fund.”

Ms Whittome, who was elected in December 2019, also called for an “emergency” universal basic income, mass testing, and contact tracing on the scale of other countries that have successfully contained the disease.

Thousands of former healthcare workers have also come out of retirement to help fight the outbreak after health secretary Matt Hancock called on them to return to work.

The UK death toll from the virus hit 355 on Monday as cases climbed to 6,650.

Britain woke on Tuesday to life under a string of strict new measures after prime minister Boris Johnson announced a nationwide lockdown on Monday evening.

The restrictions, which include only going outside to shop for necessities and to exercise once a day, have been brought in to curb the spread of Covid-19 in a bid to take pressure off the NHS.