SOUTH Shore schoolgirl Jennifer Emmess (pictured) swapped her lessons for London when she turned MP's assistant for a day.

Thirteen-year-old Jennifer, of Kingston Avenue, was invited to Westminster by Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden on a recent Take Our Daughters to Work Day at her school, Greenlands High.

Jennifer, daughter of Joanna Emmess, one of Mr Marsden's volunteers, leapt at the chance to visit his Westminster office, where she spent the morning helping research assistant James Heath sort through a mail-mountain and highlight press cuttings.

With a short break for lunch on the Thames-side terrace of Labour HQ Millbank House, Jennifer and mum went on to the House of Commons for debates on the Green Belt and New Deal - in which Mr Marsden was due to speak.

Jennifer said: "Being in the House was exciting, seeing people and places in the flesh that I have normally only seen on television."

She was fascinated by the banter and clamour of voting when the division bell rang.

After a quick return visit to Mr Marsden's office to say thanks for a super day, she returned tired but thrilled with the verdict "Let me get back to school for a rest!"

But that is unlikely to be Jennifer's last fling with politics - grandmother Councillor Pat Carrington said: "She'll be prime minister before she's finished."

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