THE COMMONS IS A SERIOUS DEBATING CHAMBER, NOT A CRECHE FOR SCREAMING BABIES
WALTHAMSTOW MP Stella Creasy is furious because she’s been told she can’t take her baby into the Commons debating chamber. And now she’s trying to make it an issue about women having to choose between a career and motherhood. It isn’t.
Parliament has a creche for goodness’ sake. It cost taxpayers £750,000 to set up in 2010 precisely to give women like her the flexibility to work AND be a mum. So why isn’t she using it? She’d have to pay, of course – just like millions of working mums do. But the
Commons debating chamber isn’t a creche. It’s the seat of our democracy where serious debates are held that will affect the people and the future of this country. A screaming baby would be a distraction.
And what happens if there were three or four of them in there all venting their little lungs? Creasy idiotically says she can’t properly represent her constituents if she can’t take her “three-month-old, wellbehaved baby” into the chamber. Tosh – she knows newborns aren’t ever well behaved for long. And why should other MPs trying to represent THEIR constituents have to put up with her child screaming and pooing.
Sensible mums understand that, while they adore their offspring, not everyone else is obliged to. And if Ms Creasy really can’t bear to leave her baby for a couple of hours in the care of Parliament’s highly professional creche staff, how the hell does she do her job when she isn’t in Parliament? Does she drag little Pip everywhere – to business meetings, functions, lunches, when she’s seeing constituents? How good is that for him? Most other working mums aren’t allowed to take their babies to work, which is what Ms Creasy is demanding. And it’s not anti-child, or being behind the times to say so. Many of those mums who do have to pay for childcare earn a whole lot less than the £81,932 (plus expenses) Ms Creasy makes.
So why doesn’t she just stop trying to make a crusade out of this and do what millions of other hard-working mothers do – get a nanny. She can afford it!