Rule review after MP is ‘order, ordered’ not to bring baby to chamber
A REVIEW has been ordered into whether MPs can take babies into the Commons chamber. It follows an outcry when Labour’s Stella Creasy was told she can no longer bring her three-month-old son with her.
Ms Creasy, a mother-of-two, was emailed by authorities about rules prohibiting bringing children in to debates after appearing with well-behaved son Pip on Tuesday.
Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said it was ‘extremely important’ parents can fully participate in parliamentary work as he asked the Procedure Committee to bring forward recommendations.
Sir Lindsay said he was unaware the warning was going to be issued to Ms Creasy but accepted it ‘correctly reflects the current rules’. He added: ‘Rules have to be seen in context and they change with the times.’
Labour’s Ms Creasy, who as an MP does not have maternity cover, said she hoped the move ‘means some of these rules will be reviewed to make parenting and politics possible to mix’.
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, called the rule ‘absurd’, adding babies were ‘far less disruptive than many braying backbenchers’.