I’m an MP – at 29 I’m still drowning in student debt

I am part of a generation that came of age in austerity, graduated into a pandemic, watched technology transform our lives at extraordinary speed and entered adulthood as the cost of the things that traditionally signify security – a home, being able to afford children, savings – moved further out of reach. And yet, I am enormously optimistic about being Gen Z. We are resilient, entrepreneurial and technologically fluent. If we get this right, we could be the generation that helps drive Britain’s next wave of economic growth through our creativity, innovation and ability to adapt. Growing up, I was sold a fairly simple script by school and by the trusted adults around me: work hard, get your qualifications, go to university, get a good job and you will be able to build a secure life. I didn’t grow up wealthy, so I understood early that if I wanted opportunities, I had to work for them – so I did.I went to university to study fashion and in 2020 graduated during the pandemic. I was fortunate to have work experience with an online fashion retailer that was hiring, and I started building my career.It was probably two or three years into working that the expectations I had grown up with collided with economic reality. I remember conversations at my desk with colleagues my age. We had done what had been asked of us. We had degrees. We had jobs. We were progressing in our careers. Yet, buying a home felt fantastical. Having children increasingly looked like something requiring a financial calculation rather than simply a life decision. Saving while paying rising rents was incredibly difficult. The social contract didn’t seem to add up anymore. That feeling turned, for me, into anger. It was part of what made me join the Labour Party, campaign for change and, eventually, become an MP at 26. Student debt is perhaps the clearest physical manifestation of that generational unfairness – with my generation having to pay much more than our elders. I have a Plan 2 student loan, a loan that is particularly high because I qualified for the highest maintenance loan. Like millions of graduates, I spent years watching money leave my payslip while the number I supposedly owed went up rather than down. My generation was told that taking on this debt was simply the price of investing in ourselves, even as the economic rewards we had been promised became harder to secure. “Generational unfairness” can sound like an invitation to pit young against old. It shouldn’t be.This isn’t about blaming our parents or grandparents. Most parents I meet desperately want their children to have greater opportunities than they did. It is about acknowledging that the economic bargain has changed. Rosie on her first day in Parliament On the day the 2024 general election was called, I was sitting at my desk at Asos looking at clothing samples for the next season. Six weeks later, I was walking into the House of Commons as an MP, for the first time ever. Strangely, during the election I rarely felt politically “young”. My constituents have overwhelmingly valued the different experiences my age allows me to bring. Inside Parliament, that experience can sometimes feel even more relevant. When we debate renters’ rights, I know what it is like to be part of the generation locked out of home ownership. When Parliament debates social media and children, I remember having social media before I was 16. When we discuss higher education, I don’t need a briefing explaining Plan 2 student loans. Yet, the most common criticism I see online about young MPs is that we lack “life experience”.There is a strange contradiction there. Parliament needs people who understand the country as it exists today, but when younger people bring exactly that experience, they can be told it doesn’t count.And yes, being a young woman adds another dimension. I have had people ask me when the MP is arriving, or which MP I work for. I’d take those moments over and over again if the alternative were not having a seat at the table.And particularly if another young woman sees me there and thinks she might belong there too.As my fellow Gen Z MP Keir Mather and I discussed recently for The Rest Is Politics’ Gen Z story, the answer cannot simply be diagnosing what has gone wrong. Politics has to offer our generation a route forward. Labour has started that work – with the Renters’ Rights Act and new employment rights strengthening protections at work – but Andy Burnham has to build on that. Britain economically cannot afford to waste the potential of an entire generation. This can be done by acknowledging generational unfairness – not as a culture war that pits young people against their parents or grandparents, but as an economic challenge that ultimately affects all of us. We also need interventions for the Gen Z cohort who are already adults. We cannot allow them to become a lost generation caught between the old social contract and whatever replaces it. Andy Burnham has already said he is worried about high interest rates on student loans, the feeling that debt is never coming down and said we need to make it better. I welcome that. And then there is housing. Angela Rayner put housebuilding back at the centre of Government, from strengthening renters’ rights to planning reform and now a £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme, with a renewed focus on council and social housing. That ambition matters enormously to my generation, because ultimately, this is what rebuilding the social contract comes down to: a secure home, decent job, the ability to save, and the possibility of raising a family if you want one. None of that is extravagant. For previous generations, it was the basic promise of adulthood.Labour has started the work of making that promise achievable again. The challenge now is to be ambitious enough to finish it. Gen Z isn’t a problem for Britain to solve. If we give this generation the security, opportunity and confidence they deserves, they could be one of the greatest assets Britain has. Rosie Wrighting appeared on The Rest Is Politics, The Gen Z Story, with Vicky Spratt. Watch the episode here.