Labour MP criticises parliament no baby rule

Stella Creasy received an email from an official after her Westminster Hall debate. She took to twitter with the email stating that “apparently parliament has written a rule which means I can’t take my well behaved 3-month-old sleeping baby when I speak in chamber”. And then went on to criticise how there is no rule on wearing a mask and claimed that “mothers in the mother of all parliament are not being heard”.

The rules of behaviour and courtesies in the house of commons states “you may take babies or toddlers with you into the division lobby and if necessary to get to the division lobby- take them through the chamber”. It also states, “you should not take your seat in the chamber when accompanied by your child nor stand at either end of the chamber between divisions”. Stella Creasy says she was warned that new mothers are “rebuked” rather than supported when returning to parliament.

Many people had different feelings towards this and there was some pushback with former conservative MP Anna Soubry replying to her tweet saying, “most workers can’t take their child into their work”. Ms Creasy responded stating that Anna should “know better than that” as they aren’t “classed as workers”.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said that he had “a lot of sympathy” and that “politicians needed to make sure our profession is brought into the modern world so parents can juggle the jobs they do with the family time they need”. He also although stated it was for the hous4e authorities to decide the “right balance”. Stella Creasy is encouraging more mothers to enter politics through a campaign called this mum votes. After the birth of her first child in 2019 she had spoken to sky news calling for changes to parliaments rules around maternity leave for MPs accusing the authorities of “living in 1919 not 2019”