Censured, MP who took her children to select committee
Nationalist cautioned after putting tot on lap
A NATIONALIST MP has been cautioned by Parliament staff after taking her two young children into a Westminster committee meeting.
Kirsty Blackman was forced to take her son Harris, four, and two-year-old daughter Rebecca to a discussion on English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) after struggling to find childcare in London.
The 30-year-old lives in Aberdeen with her husband Luke, and although she spends much of her week at Westminster, her children attend nurseries in their hometown. But last week Harris and Rebecca made history as the first children to sit in on a select committee meeting.
The pair were in London with Mrs Blackman as schools and nurseries in Scotland closed for summer at the end of June – three weeks before parliamentary recess.
On Monday and Tuesday of last week, the Aberdeen North MP took her children to Parliament. They both sat quietly in an office while their mother voted against the
‘What am I supposed to do?’
renewal of Trident, and then joined her again on Tuesday during a Scottish Affairs select committee meeting.
However, it was after that meeting that Mrs Blackman received a caution from clerks for breaching rules after she allowed her toddler daughter to sit on her lap during the meeting.
Mrs Blackman told the Scottish Daily Mail yesterday: ‘Both my children came to a Scottish Affairs committee meeting on Tuesday.
‘They sat at a table at the back, they were both very good and incredibly quiet.
‘My daughter Rebecca was tired, and she fell asleep. I went to pick her up and bring her to sit with me, and that’s what the issue was.
‘What am I supposed to do with a two-year-old? Where am I supposed to leave them?’
Video footage of the meeting shows Mrs Blackman leaving her seat several times, before bringing her daughter to sit on her lap, while a child’s voice can be heard in the background.
The youngster can be seen drawing on a sheet of paper, while her mother participates in discussions. Mrs Blackman did acknowledge that there is a Parliament nursery, but this is for use of MPs and Westminster staff whose children live in London and use it daily. It was opened in 2010 and has 40 places.
Children over a year old are not allowed into the lobbies and like other unauthorised persons are considered ‘strangers’.
Rules were only changed to allow infants to be brought through the lobbies during the last parliament, when married former Liberal Democrat MPs Jo Swinson and Duncan Hames had no choice but to take their son with them to vote.
Last week, Nationalist MP Alison Thewliss was spotted with her young daughter in the House of Commons lobby. She had earlier told of how her daughter had been looked after by another MP while she worked. This comes after the Good Parliament Report, published earlier this month, warned that ‘considerably more needs to be done’ on childcare provision at Westminster.
The report by Professor Sarah Childs on Parliament’s approach to
‘Holyrood crèche works very well’
equalities made 41 recommendations, including the establishment of a crèche.
One anonymous MP, who was elected in 2015, told Professor Childs: ‘My partner and I have already decided that we can’t have a family if I am an MP. They don’t want to be a single parent and they would be, back in the constituency with the child.’
Mrs Blackman yesterday said it was sad that politicians thought they had to take such drastic measures for the job.
She has now called for more child care options at Westminster, and leniency for those parents who have no choice other than to take small children into Parliament.
This incident has led Mrs Blackman, who has previously voiced support over breastfeeding in Parliament, to urge its chiefs to develop a better, more inclusive child care system at Westminster.
As part of this, she has supported the idea of a crèche that would allow MPs, lobby journalists, parliamentary staff and members of the public visiting Westminster to drop off their children
She believes that making Parliament more family-friendly could help encourage young women into politics. Mrs Blackman said: ‘They have a crèche at Holyrood, which I believe works very well. I think it’s very important that Parliament is representative.’
As well as school holidays, Mrs Blackman said late votes could be difficult for MPs with young children. She has now urged Commons Speaker John Bercow to consider the report recommendations.
A spokesman for the Speaker’s office said a group chaired by Mr Bercow would consider the report, including the idea of a crèche, when it begins work in the autumn.