A 21-year-old female student has become the youngest woman ever to be elected as Mayor after first entering politics to campaign about tuna paninis.
Labour party member Rosie Corrigan was elected Mayor of Selby, a market town in North Yorkshire, on Monday. The student's election was uncontested to the mayoralty, following a year serving as Deputy Mayor. Corrigan has just finished her penultimate year studying Politics at the University of Hull.
A political activist since secondary school, life-long Selby inhabitant Corrigan has always been ambitious. As a member of the UK Youth Parliament, she co-founded the Selby Youth council following a campaign to get tuna paninis on the lunch menu, and then went on to run for and win the local council election as a Labour candidate aged just 18.
Corrigan plans to use her year in office to further encourage political awareness in the youth of Selby. By breaking a political record of being the youngest woman ever elected in UK history, Corrigan hopes this will break the stereotype of Selby being a sleepy town with old-fashioned views. "It's an honour to be the Mayor of my lovely home town." Corrigan told HuffPost UK, "I plan on using the year to encourage children and young people to champion their communities."
The second year politics student's election has been supported whole-heartedly by the politicians she has worked with throughout her early-developing career, including the backing of former deputy PM John Prescott. Young Labour Chair Simon Darvill told the Independent: "I hope that the success of Rosie and others like her encourages more young people to get involved in politics and change where they live for the better."