MP receives critical emails for taking maternity leave
AN MP who gave birth to her first child a week ago has been criticised by constituents for taking maternity leave in a “time of national crisis”.
Siobhan Baillie, 38, who represents Stroud, in Gloucestershire, received “unpleasant” emails, mostly from men, criticising her decision to take leave following the birth of her daughter, her assistant said.
The married Conservative MP, who is planning to be away for only four weeks, has received support from parliamentarians including Harriet Harman, Stella Creasy, Flick Drummond, Caroline Nokes and Ruth Cadbury.
One constituent wrote: “This is a time of national crisis and it is not acceptable that the constituents of Stroud have no MP to represent them and that their correspondence will be ignored for a month. We have a legal right to an MP … I believe there is now a breach in our democratic law which needs to be addressed immediately.”
Another wrote: “I am amazed she has the nerve to take maternity leave when she has only been in the post for five months.”
Others contacted Mrs Baillie’s constituency office expressing their anger at the Dominic Cummings affair and demanding a response from her.
“Why will my MP not respond to me, given the gravity of the Cummings affair … I don’t care that she has just given birth,” one critic wrote.
Harriet Butcher, the senior parliamentary assistant to Mrs Baillie, said: “Sadly, Siobhan has received unpleasant emails, the vast majority from men, who seem to think the 2010 Equality Act does not apply to a woman because she is an MP.
“Comprehensive arrangements have been made with her staff and with other Gloucestershire MPS, if necessary, to help any Stroud constituent during the short time she is away.
“Why anyone would be ‘astonished’ a mother would want to take time off to care for and bond with her daughter we find incredible.”
Mrs Baillie defeated David Drew, the sitting Labour MP, in the general election last December.