Sam Carling is the Labour Party MP for North West Cambridgeshire, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Carling won 14,785 votes, representing 33.3% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Shailesh Vara, received 14,746 votes (33.2%). The Reform UK candidate secured 8,741 votes (19.7%). Carling was duly elected with a majority of just 39 votes.

The North West Cambridgeshire seat was created in 1997 and held continuously by the Conservative Party until 2024. Vara, Carling’s immediate predecessor as the MP for North West Cambridgeshire, served as Northern Ireland secretary in 2022.

In 2024, Carling overturned a 25,983 Conservative majority in the constituency.

Political Career

Carling is a member of the House of Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee (since January 2025). Pacac examines how the country is run, covering both the machinery of government and the UK’s constitutional rules. It is the principal select committee to which Cabinet Office ministers are accountable.

Carling is the youngest member of parliament and therefore holds the informal title of “baby of the House.” Unlike the father/mother of the House, who has the formal duty of presiding over the election of a speaker, the baby of the House has no official duties or responsibilities. The title is an informal term used by parliamentary colleagues and the media.

Carling was 22-years-old when he was elected to parliament and reportedly the joint-youngest Labour MP in modern history – tied with Malcolm Macmillan, who was first elected in 1935.

In May 2026, Carling publicly called for Keir Starmer, the prime minister, to step down/set out a timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

In a statement, Carling said: “Under the prime minister’s leadership we have made significant strides in a number of these areas and others. I am proud of what we have delivered. But it is clear that we are not going far enough in our ambition and delivery, and nor are we communicating our successes effectively.

“Change is needed, and I have come to the conclusion that Sir Keir Starmer is not the right person to lead that change.”

In November 2025, Carling was one of 34 cross-party MPs and peers who signed a letter to Ofcom demanding an investigation into the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The letter, led by Joani Reid, chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on antisemitism, called on the regulator to determine whether the platform was in breach of its legal duties under the Online Safety Act following a reported surge in antisemitic content and calls for violence against Jews on X.

Carling is a patron of LGBT+ Labour – a socialist society formally affiliated with the Labour Party.

Carling is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for safeguarding in faith communities and scientific (chair).

Carling delivered his maiden speech on 24 July 2024 in a debate on education and opportunity. In it, he said: “I am the youngest member of this parliament.

“It will not surprise many members to hear that I have not been out of the education system for that long. Indeed, I was in the first cohort of students whose A-level exams were cancelled during the pandemic. In many ways, it was that experience that politicised me.

“The response to the crisis, the decisions about exams, and the support, 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.”

He added: “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.”

Before entering parliament, Carling was elected as a Labour councillor on Cambridge City Council in May 2022. He stood down from this role in May 2025.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Carling was one of 175 Labour MPs who nominated Bridget Phillipson for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Phillipson, the serving education secretary, was widely viewed as the candidate favoured by Downing Street and the party leadership. She secured 175 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 80 required to reach the final ballot. She was ultimately defeated by Lucy Powell.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Carling voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

Assisted dying

Carling voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Carling voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Before Politics

Carling was born in 2002 and was brought up in Crook, County Durham.

He completed his A-levels at an independent boarding school with an academic scholarship.

Carling studied natural sciences at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he was co-chair of the Cambridge University Labour Club. He was also president of Christ’s College Junior Common Room (JCR), an officer of the Cambridge Union and a university councillor.

Carling was studying a postgraduate degree at Cambridge at the time of his election.

Personal Life

Carling grew up in the Jehovah’s Witness community but has since expressed criticism of its practices in the House of Commons.

He has lived in Cambridge since he was 18.

Trivia

Carling is currently the “baby of the House”