Stella Creasy took her 13-week-old son to a late night awards show yesterday before appearing on Lorraine this morning without him as a row continued about the decision to ban her from bringing the infant to Commons debates.
The Walthamstow MP was pictured sitting at a table with the infant just before 10.45pm during the final stages of the Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards in London.
She hit out yesterday after receiving an official rebuke for carrying 13-week-old son Pip in a sling during a discussion on Black Friday regulations.
She has previously taken part in debates in the Commons chamber while carrying one of her two children, and following the 2019 election was sworn in while carrying daughter Hettie.
Today, appearing without her baby on Lorraine, Ms Creasy said she was ‘baffled’ at the ticking off, and said she was considering bringing her son into Parliament next week too.
She said: ‘I don’t know whether next week I can take my son into parliament with me for the work I need to do…a lot of these rules seem to have been written not thinking about the flexibility [women need].
‘I think we do need to have the conversation, it’s a bit of a chicken and an egg there aren’t many mums of young children in politics which means it’s not seen as an important issue which means there aren’t many mums with young mother.’
Parliament has a nursery caring for children from birth to aged five which is open from 8am to 6pm. MPs are not allowed to take children into the Commons chamber.
The Walthamstow MP was pictured sitting at a table with the infant just before 10.45pm during the final stages of the Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards in London
Today, appearing without her baby on Lorraine, Ms Creasy said she was ‘baffled’ at the ticking off, and said she was considering bringing her son into Parliament next week too
Ms Creasy took part in a debate on the promotion and regulation of financial products on Black Friday with son Pip in a sling
Last night’s row prompted Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to today launch a probe into the rules barring MPs from bringing their children into work.
But Ms Creasy was criticised by Red Wall Tory MP Scott Benton, who questioned why she needed to bring her son to work.
‘Parents who get paid a fraction of what you do pay for childcare and juggle responsibilities so they can go to work,’ the Blackpool South MP said.
‘What makes you so special?’
Ms Creasy later hit back, saying: ‘We don’t have employment rights so don’t have maternity cover to be able to do juggling, hence needing to take baby with me.
‘But great to hear your support for ensuring mothers can be part of politics. Guess being anti choice for women is just in your DNA.’
But she was also criticised by a female politician.
Susan Hall, who leads the Tories on the Greater London Assembly, said: ‘Mothers have to find childcare in the real world, it’s what they do.’
Ms Creasy – pictured last night – hit out yesterday after receiving an official rebuke for carrying 13-week-old son Pip in a sling during a discussion on Black Friday regulations
Ms Creasy was criticised by Red Wall Tory MP Scott Benton, who questioned why she needed to bring her son to work
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle announced he has asked a committee to examine the regulations after Stella Creasy was admonished in a letter last night.
While taking part in the event she was accompanied by Pip, who is still breastfeeding, and received the terse email afterwards.
Ms Creasy had earlier tweeted a photograph of an email addressed to her apparently from the Private Secretary to the Chairman of Ways and Means reminding her of the Rules of behaviour and courtesies in the House of Commons, which were updated in early September.
Paragraph 42 of the Rules states an MP ‘should not take your seat in the Chamber when accompanied by a child’, with the Private Secretary telling the 44-year-old mother of two this also applies to Westminster Hall.
The Walthamstow MP took part in a debate on the promotion and regulation of financial products on Black Friday in the building, the oldest part of the Westminster estate which is used for additional discussions outside the Commons chamber.
While taking part in the event she was accompanied by Pip, who is still breastfeeding, and received the terse email afterwards.
Sir Lindsay told MPs: ‘It is extremely important that parents of babies and young children are able to participate fully in the work of this House.’
He said he had been unaware of the advice given to Labour’s Stella Creasy, who was told she can no longer bring her three-month-old son into the Commons chamber, but it ‘correctly reflects the current rules’.
‘However, rules have to be seen in context and they change with the times,’ he said.
Ms Creasy said she was ‘pleased to hear this’, adding: ‘(I) Hope this means some of these rules will be reviewed to make parenting and politics possible to mix.’
All MPs have to follow the Rules of Behaviour and Courtesies in the House of Commons, which was most recently updated in September.
Under the section on children it 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.
‘For safety reasons, you are asked to carry your child and not to bring pushchairs through the lobby.
‘You should not take your seat in the Chamber when accompanied by your child, nor stand at either end of the Chamber, between divisions.’
However, Ms Creasy and other new mothers in Parliament have previously carried their newborn children – who are often still breastfeeding – into the Commons for debates, with authorities taking a sympathetic stance until now.
‘Mothers in the mother of all parliament are not to be seen or heard it seems…. #21stCenturyCalling,’ Ms Creasy posted with the photographed email on Tuesday afternoon.
In a separate post, Ms Creasy urged support for an campaign to get more mothers involved in politics.
‘Other countries show it doesn’t have to be this way – If you want things to change so politics and parenting can mix, please join our project to help directly support mums of young children to stand for office.’
The BBC cited the House of Commons as saying it was ‘in communication’ with Ms Creasy.
Susan Hall, who leads the Tories on the Greater London Assembly, said: ‘Mothers have to find childcare in the real world, it’s what they do.’
Labour’s Liz Kendall, 50, to ‘step back’ from MP role to become a mother
Leicester West MP Liz Kendall said she will be stepping back from her parliamentary duties and her frontbench role temporarily next year when she has a new baby through surrogacy.
The shadow minister for social care, who ran for the party leadership in 2015, made the announcement last night.
The Leicester West MP said she and her partner were due to become parents in the new year.
‘I’ll be taking leave from work to make the most of this precious time with the newest member of our family,’ she told the Leicester Mercury.
‘But I want to reassure my constituents that my office will remain fully open throughout, and my whole team will continue to provide the very best help and support to local residents.’
Boris Johnson wants to see ‘further improvements’ on making Parliament family friendly, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman, asked by reporters whether MPs should be allowed to bring their babies into the Commons, said: ‘We completely understand the difficulties faced by MPs who are new mothers, new fathers or adopted parents and Parliament has made some positive changes to becoming more family friendly in recent years, including on proxy voting.
‘We want to make sure that all work places are modern, flexible and fit for parents.
‘This is obviously a matter for the House. I know they have issued a statement on that today, but we very much do want to see further improvements.’
Asked whether that comment was akin to Mr Johnson signalling his support for a change on the baby stance, the No 10 spokesman replied: ‘Like I say, we want the workplace in any circumstances to be modern and flexible and fit for the 21st century.
‘The exact way that operates is rightly a matter for the House.’
This morning Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said he has ‘a lot of sympathy’ for Mr Creasy, telling BBC Breakfast: ‘Quite what the right balance is in terms of the chamber, let me leave that to the House authorities but frankly I’ve got a lot of sympathy for Stella Creasy on all of these things because I’ve seen her with her young child, I’ve seen many other MPs on all sides of the House balancing this, and it’s difficult.
‘I think we do need to make sure our profession is brought into the modern world, the 21st century, and can allow parents to juggle the jobs they do with the family time that they need.’
He said he is a ‘sucker for young kids’ and he would not be bothered giving a speech at the despatch box in their presence, adding: ‘When you see your colleagues with their children, given the rough and tumble of politics, I just always think it brings out the best in people.
‘Whether it’s the right thing in the chamber, there will be different views on that, it will be for the House authorities to decide but it certainly wouldn’t distract me or get in the way of me doing my job.’
Ms Creasy with her newborn in September during a debate where she demanded new mothers were ‘supported’ by Parliament
In late September, Ms Creasy’s then-newborn was strapped to her as she rose in the chamber to ask Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg to ensure new mothers were supported rather than ‘rebuked’ when returning to Parliament.
Mr Rees-Mogg said in response he thought the rules were ‘perfectly reasonable and entirely in line with the law’.
Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones last night described the rule as a ‘complete contradiction’ after she said she received an assurance from Sir Lindsay that she could breastfeed in the chamber.
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, said the rule is ‘absurd’ and ‘absolutely needs to be challenged’, adding that babies are ‘far less disruptive than many braying backbenchers’.
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The issue has left social media users divided, with many speaking out in support for Ms Creasy, while others argued that people in other professions cannot take their children to work with them.
One user wrote: ‘In some ways I applaud this. In other ways (as pointed out by someone else), we as a working class couple had to pay high childcare fees which was hard. We couldn’t take our kids to work, most people still can’t.’
Another commented: ‘Shame on parliament. A child under 1 yes, especially if being breast fed, should be allowed. Again another barrier for women.’
One teacher penned: ’22 years ago, I breast fed my baby while giving a lecture and tutorials too. My students didn’t suffer and my baby grew up just fine.
‘My workplace took it in its stride. Stella Creasy is doing her job, in 2021 it’s outrageous there are rules stopping her.’
Following the 2019 election she was sworn in while carrying daughter Hettie in a sling (centre)
One person penned: ‘Since when as a nation did we become so anti child? Of course every case is different, and I think we should seek to be more accommodating where possible.’
While another said: ‘All the people saying Stella should use childcare: the baby is very young, she is breastfeeding him, and she can do her job far more efficiently if she does it with the baby rather than is going backwards and forwards to a nursery every 90 mins to feed him.’
But another disagreed, saying: ‘Could my mum have me in a sales showroom for AGA cookers or my Dad on a building sight? No, they couldn’t.’
And one person tweeted: ‘Do what the rest of the country has to do… get a child minder/family to help or work from home.’
Ms Creasy had regularly taken her son and previously her daughter Hettie into the Commons chamber.
Neither child had been held by the Speaker, however, unlike in New Zealand in 2019.
Speaker Trevor Mallard attracted global fame as a so-called ‘baby whisperer’ after helping to soothe a colleague’s infant – including rocking, bottle feeding and burping the child – during a debate in the chamber in Wellington.
A year earlier, the country’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern became the first world leader to take their baby on to the floor of the UN General Assembly.
