Labour candidate Maeve McCormack.

Labour’s candidate for the Gospel Oak by-election has pledged to secure the future of schools in the ward for the next generation.

Maeve McCormack’s interest in education piqued in 2010 when the coalition took over and, she claimed, started to dismantle all the good work the previous administration had under taken.

She said: “It made me angry and want to get involved, because I felt that I had benefited greatly from the Labour government.

“I saw how my own school in Wokingham changed and I decided I didn’t want to be someone who just read newspapers, I wanted to stand up and get involved.”

At 26-years-old she has already helped overhaul St Dominic’s Primary School in Southampton Road after more than a year as a governor at the school.

“It has been through a fairly rapid change and we have an amazing new headteacher who started in September and she is driving huge change in the school,” said Ms McCormack, whose father is a headteacher.

“We are also in the middle of a rebuilding programme with massive investment from Camden Council. It’s going to be a whole new school and it has been massively rewarding.”

With a degree in law and a masters degree in human rights from Nottingham University, Ms McCormack turned her attention to public affairs.

She moved to Camden in 2008 and took up a role with a national charity, specialising in health and social care.

Ms McCormack, from Broadhurst Gardens in Swiss Cottage, said: “I wanted to be involved in law-making rather than law enforcement and that’s where my interest in politics grew.

“I felt I wanted to be involved in making the changes and getting stuck in, earlier in the process.”

The Nottingham University graduate claims, if elected, she will be a voice for the Gospel Oak community and channel their views on the regeneration of the area, including schools.

She said: “I will support the continued investment in schools. That’s the most important thing for me, along with the continued investment in the regeneration of the area.”