Babies ‘should not be allowed in House of Commons’
MEMBERS of Parliament should not be allowed to bring babies into the House of Commons chamber, a cross-party committee has concluded.
The ruling by the House of Commons procedures committee follows a fierce row after a Labour MP was rebuked for bringing her child to a debate last year.
MPS who want to “observe, initiate, speak or intervene in proceedings” should also not be able to bring babies into Westminster Hall and committee hearings, the review found.
Last year, Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow, brought her threemonth-old son, Pip, to a Westminster Hall debate.
In November, the private secretary to the chairman of ways and means wrote to Ms Creasy reminding her that the rules of behaviour and courtesies in the House of Commons state an MP “should not take your seat in the Chamber when accompanied by a child”.
Her call for change sparked a public debate on the issue, after she said: “Apparently Parliament has written a rule which means I can’t take my wellbehaved, three-month-old, sleeping baby when I speak in [the] Chamber.”
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, had previously said he “wouldn’t be upset by” a mother breastfeeding in the chamber. After outcry over Ms Creasy’s treatment, he said there may be occasions when the chairman can exercise discretion and commissioned a review of the rules.
Today, the procedures committee report concluded that it was a “longstanding practice of the House” that babies “should not be present” in the Chamber and Westminster Hall, saying the guidance should remain in place.
MPS on the committee noted occasions when MPS had brought babies to debates “without disruption” had contributed to “confusion and a gap” between the practice and the rules.
Alicia Kearns, Tory MP for Rutland and Melton, said babies risk distracting MPS. She “contrasted the role of a member in the Chamber with that of a barrister in court, arguing that the presence of a baby being cared for would undermine confidence that full attention was being paid to proceedings”.