Ditch word ‘mother’, says MP

THE NHS should refer to ‘birthing partners’ not mothers, a controversial Labour MP has said.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle told the BBC’s Politics Live there could be times when two women were having a baby together, so the word mother could refer to either of them, but then a surrogate may not consider herself to be the mother of the baby she was carrying. However, speaking on International Women’s Day, the MP insisted he did not agree with a total ban on gendered language on NHS websites.

His comments came after more than 1,000 NHS staff demanded the word woman be reinstated on its websites. An NHS spokesman said the website was ‘under continual review’.