The youngest MP in the House of Commons is known as the "baby of the house".
This moniker is currently held by Sam Carling, the 22-year-old Labour MP for North West Cambridgeshire.
Giving his maiden speech in the Commons today, Mr Carling said the pandemic is what led him to politics.
He would have been around 18 when the pandemic started in early 2020.
Mr Carling said: "I was in the first cohort of students whose A-level exams were cancelled during the pandemic, and in many ways it was that experience that politicised me.
"I grew up in a deprived, rural area and was concerned from a young age to see a progressive decline in local high streets, alongside growing problems in public services, notably within schools.
"When I was in my final year at a rural school, budget cuts forced the closure of its sixth form, leaving me and many others having to find alternative provision at short notice, which wasn't easy for many, who faced very long journeys indeed to the nearest alternatives.
"The closure not only disrupted education but also fragmented the community, as students were scattered to different institutions.
"But I never connected those issues to politics and the decisions being made in this place, until I saw the very direct impact of those decisions around schools in the pandemic.
"The response to the crisis, the decisions about exams – or lack thereof – provided to students, made it clear to a great many previously disengaged young people that political choices have real and immediate consequences.
"We have got to work across this House to improve engagement in our democracy, and a large part of that must revolve around rebuilding trust in politics."