Stella Creasy and MPs with babies deserve better than this disdain from out-of-touch Parliament – Jayne Dowle

I had no choice. That particular day, 16 years ago, no family member was available to look after her and I felt she was still too young to go to nursery every day. Yes, she was already enrolled and ensconced in the baby room three days a week. Not my choice, but economic family circumstances.

I have every sympathy for Ms Creasy who has been reprimanded for taking her baby to work. The newly-revised Commons rule book specifies children cannot go into the hallowed chambers of Parliament. I acknowledge that decorous traditions are important, but it’s hardly setting a sensible, pro-active example to other workplaces, is it?

Over the years I have often talked about that trip to Preston and hoped that things might have improved. Then, as now, self-employed mothers received precious little maternity provision. As neither, it turns out, do female MPs.

Illustrating the kind of questionable logic so characteristic of the “courtesies and customs” and “ways and means” of both the Parliamentary rule book and the British constitution, this is because of democracy. The argument goes that because an MP is the people’s choice, no-one else can substitute.

It is inconceivable that a sensible compromise has not been reached whereby a ‘second’ could be made available for a sitting MP. Even in the hazy few weeks of a new baby’s arrival, a female member of the House of Commons must attend to business matters the best she can.

In February, Creasy did actually became the first MP to appoint a ‘locum MP’, Kizzy Gardiner, to manage constituency work. She has also challenged proposals to limit new plans for parliamentary maternity leave to government ministers.

And it’s even more interesting, I thought, that this ‘no babies in the chambers’ rule means that someone in Westminster has actually sat down, thought about it and composed the details, meaning, in effect, the powers-that-be have done more to ban babies than they have to outlaw second jobs for MPs.

I don’t know what is making me angrier, the fact that a serious 44-year-old politician and mother of two – Ms Creasy has a daughter too – has been spoken to as if she was a child herself, or the evidence that some of her colleagues do not understand the challenges facing working parents.

Believe me, taking Junior along for the ride is never a decision anyone takes lightly. Scott Benton, the Conservative MP for Blackpool South, wrote to Creasy on Twitter: “Parents who get paid a fraction of what you do pay for childcare and juggle responsibilities so they can go to work. What makes you so special?”

Charming. Does Mr Benton not stop to consider that many parents who would dearly love to work are prevented from doing so because they cannot find or afford childcare?

And also, I wonder, if Mr Benton, or any of the other people accusing Ms Creasy of using a baby to make a public point, have actually considered how young and tiny 13 weeks really is? At this age, as in the case of her son, many babies are still being breast-fed, following the official WHO advice offered by health professionals.

It is do-able, clearly. We’ve all seen photographs of female politicians overseas taking their babies to work, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who made history in 2018 when her three-month-old daughter, Neve, accompanied her to the UN General Assembly.

No-one in their right mind would take a toddler to any kind of debate, especially one in Westminster Hall, but believe me, small babies are generally very portable and, if fed and comfortable, biddable. As Ms Creasy pointed out: “I’ve had a baby, I haven’t given up my brain or capacity to do things and our politics and our policy-making will be better by having more mums at the table.”

She is right. The Prime Minister, whose wife is expecting her second baby, has signalled his support and said that Parliament should be made “more family-friendly”.

Finally, we should not forget that a General Election will be upon us before we know it. How many politically engaged and active parents are being deterred from considering standing as candidates because they cannot see a way to combine politics with parenthood?

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