Photography: Robert Ormerod documents Scotland's young politicians

I cannot imagine having to think about running a country, constituency or even local authority. The day-to-day stress you must encounter, having to be authoritative yet not dictatorial, making changes to actually help people yet still having “cool” music taste.

It’s clear a life of politics takes a certain type of person to lure in. Photographer Robert Ormerod has posed this question in his latest project Political Youth, which looks at the motivations behind the young parliamentary officers that have stepped forward in the Scottish parliament.

With the recent flurry of panic and/or wishfulness that Scotland could be it’s own country one day, Robert considers what sets these people apart from the rest of us, who they are before all that media training and whether there’s a shared goal of one day being a head of state. The result is some brilliant images of young adults tip-toeing the balance between a clueless young person to a fully fledged adult with genuine concerns about pensions.

This tension is documented superbly by Robert as his subjects look stiff, awkward and baby-faced but still keen to show their dedication to the cause by clutching piles of paper and pamphlets. I love how Robert’s been able to gain a sense of the prosaic nature often felt when you’re on the first rung of the ladder in any career.