What’s the most pressing issue for women right now and what are you doing about it?

“I want women to feel supported to make the choices that they want to make in life and try to help level the playing field – particularly for women who have a young family or are perhaps wanting to start a family. A big part of this is making sure that dads are involved in these choices and responsibilities. I’m fortunate that my husband decided that he wanted to be a part-time stay-at-home dad, which enabled me to pursue my career in business and then politics, but we need better parental leave and rights. I’m really proud that the Lib Dems introduced shared parental leave while in government, and we plan on taking this further in our manifesto because not enough dads have taken up those rights.

Our childcare system is utterly unaffordable, and we need to fix that so that families have choices. And when childcare costs and parental leave policies are addressed, we can properly tackle the gender pay gap too.”

What’s the one thing you want to achieve in your role?

“One of the driving forces behind my involvement in politics – and I’m delighted I cover this as the spokesperson for education – is my passion for children and young people. My overarching priority is safeguarding and investing in our children’s future and making them a greater priority for politicians and policymakers. So, I cover a whole range of things, including making sure that our children have clean air to breathe, clean water to swim in and are well fed. I want to ensure that children have at least one healthy hot meal at school every day, which is a policy I’ve been campaigning for recently. At the moment, the threshold for free school meals means that very few children are eligible. I believe that everyone has something special in them and with the right support and education, they can flourish and do great things.”

What’s been your most memorable day in politics so far?

“It was probably the day before Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister. I happened to get very lucky at that particular PMQs as my question was picked from the ballot so I was able to stand up and speak in the Commons as Johnson’s premiership was starting to fall apart. I remember being in that packed chamber with everybody shouting and gunning for his resignation, my adrenaline pumping. I thought I can’t really ask anything else at this moment but to say his time was up and he should resign.

On a more personal level, a memorable moment will always be my maiden speech in 2020. It was a proud moment, having spent many years trying to become an MP, and my young daughter was up in the gallery watching too. To be able to make my speech in front of her and say that I hope more women and ethnic minority women are able to see me in parliament was emotional.”

How do people react when you tell them you’re a politician?

“Quite mixed. I guess it depends. I spend a lot of time around children and young people and they’re the most refreshing people to talk to because there isn’t a barrier. It’s just unfiltered. I love it, they’re just themselves and ask the questions that are on their minds without being worried about coming across as pertinent or rude. I honestly find speaking to a group of sixth form students more scary than speaking in parliament because they will cut to the chase, ask you the difficult questions and tell you how it is.”

Do you have a constituent in mind when you’re standing up representing them in parliament?

“It depends on the topic, but I often do as everything we discuss in parliament affects our constituents. A particular story that comes to mind was a family I was trying to help who were stuck in Afghanistan. The father used to be a constituent of mine but he was an Afghan British dual national and went back to serve in the Afghan government and had his family in the country. Sadly, he was assassinated by the Taliban after the UK and US forces left Afghanistan, so his wife and five children were left fearing for their lives. Because his kids were British dual nationals, they had every right to come to the UK but trying to get them out was almost impossible due to the mother not holding a British passport.

It took 18 months of me standing up in parliament, as well as the work that went on behind the scenes with my team and the Home Office. But it took me shouting (and sometimes crying) at ministers in the chambers to say that we need to help this family get out of Afghanistan. Eventually, we did and it was a very emotional moment when I heard the news that they’d landed at Heathrow.”

What piece of criticism as a politician has stuck in your mind?

“The one criticism that hurts the most is when people say I’m lazy or don’t work hard enough because the opposite is true. MPs work long hours and sacrifice a lot of time with family and friends to dedicate to the job. And we often can’t get back to people as quickly as they want because we’re constantly inundated with requests, concerns and questions. We try to work as fast as we can and to the best of our abilities but when people can’t see that work, they can be quite critical.”

What was the last lie you told?

“I genuinely try hard not to lie – the closest to a lie I’ve come to recently is giving up trying to convince my children that the tooth fairy and Santa exist. Or when I’ve eaten the last bit of chocolate cake and they come running down to ask for a slice.”

How do you keep your brain sharp?

“I try to run regularly as that helps both my mental and physical wellbeing, so I’ll squeeze in a 5k now and again. The other silly thing I have with my husband is that every evening, usually when I’m on the train home from parliament, we have a competition on Wordle – a bit of fun and good for the brain.”

Why should a voter trust you?

“This is a question I get quite a lot when I’m out canvassing and I suppose where I would start is hopefully my record speaks for itself. When I stood for election as an MP, I promised to serve the needs of and be the voice of Twickenham. I often talk about being the voice for the voiceless – whether that’s children or kinship carers, young people who are in care or families living in poverty. So, if you look at my record, whenever I’ve come across either an individual situation through my constituency casework, been exposed to a group of people or on a more national scale, I have tried my very best within the capacity of what I can do as one MP to try and battle the system on their behalf and bring about change.”

What would make you walk away from politics?

“This is a tough one. Any politician would be lying if they said there weren’t days when they wondered whether this job was worth all the sacrifice, particularly when you’re in the minority opposition party. There are a lot of disappointments in the job, and it’s relentless and you’re constantly under scrutiny. But I love my job. It’s an immense privilege to serve those in my community and my country. It would need to be something quite significant in my personal life, like a family emergency or a major change in circumstances, to make me walk away at that moment.”

What keeps you awake at night?

“I never have trouble getting to sleep at night because I’m so exhausted every single day. But I often wake up earlier than I need to if I’ve got stuff on my mind and that’s particularly when I have to do a big media appearance. I’m still relatively new to all of this. I’ve only been an MP for four and a half years, and when I get asked to do something like Question Time, I find that really nerve-racking.

In terms of what keeps me awake at night, it’s the main issue I want to work on if I get re-elected and that’s young people’s mental health. I hear awful stories from parents, teachers and children themselves about their mental health struggles. Just a few weeks ago, I heard about a teenage suicide in my constituency. I was sitting in a local park with my family, and the mother of the teenager came up to speak to me and it was harrowing – hearing how her child was let down by mental health services. And sadly, it isn’t a unique story. It’s not just a crisis, it’s an emergency.”

Answer The Question is Stylist’s home for all things voting and elections. In the series, we sit down with MPs from across the political spectrum to get to the heart of who they are and, more importantly, why we should trust them with our vote.

“The childcare system is utterly unaffordable”: Munira Wilson on parental rights and prioritising children and young people