North West Cambridgeshire MP enjoys job despite online nastiness

The country’s youngest MP has said he “thoroughly enjoys” his new job despite receiving “some crap online”.

Sam Carling, 22, represents North West Cambridgeshire, a largely rural constituency that includes part of Peterborough.

He told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire: “You get some unpleasant things said online, but I mean, that’s just what people are like online, it doesn’t have an impact.”

The Labour MP highlighted local issues in the constituency, including fly-tipping on farmland and the controversial redevelopment of Peterborough’s East of England Showground.

Mr Carling, who won his seat by 39 votes in July, said he was “taken aback and grateful” to those who voted for him in the general election.

He plans to resign from his position as a councillor on Cambridge City Council next year, a job he said he enjoyed “so, so much”.

Mr Carling said the interest people were now taking in his personal life took “some getting used to”, but that he was enjoying his work as an MP.

He added that fly-tipping on farmland was one of the local problems to which he wanted to bring more attention.

“For a farmer trying to deal with that, it can block off routes and cause all sorts of problems, that’s really difficult to deal with,” he said.

“We need some extra police enforcement up there.”

Mr Carling said the redevelopment of the East of England Showground, which has left the Peterborough Panthers – a motorcycle speedway team – without a track, was a “hugely complicated issue”.

Mr Carling said he had met with the developers, Asset Earning Power Group (AEPG), and planned to meet with the consortium trying to find a new home for the Panthers.

There is no provision for speedway in the plans submitted by AEPG, which intends to build 1,500 homes and other facilities.

Mr Carling said a lot of the problems were due to finances, adding: “At the end of the day having a stadium like that, there are lots of costs associated with that.”

He said he was “very keen to engage” with all sides of the debate.