MPs who have a baby ‘should be able to vote by proxy’

MPS HAVE united to demand changes to Parliament’s “18thcentury” approach to new parents, amid concerns it prevents voters being fully represented.

They unanimously backed a non-binding motion from Labour former deputy leader Harriet Harman calling for arrangements to enable MPs to vote by proxy in the Commons after they have had a baby or adopted a child.

Ms Harman, the so-called Mother of the House, questioned why a constituency should lose the right for votes to be cast in their name just because their MP is having a baby. Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom welcomed the Procedure Committee’s inquiry into proxy voting, saying there are a number of important questions to consider.

She noted televised debates and other technology allow people to follow business from further afield, with any change “carefully considered” including who would act as a proxy and how it would be regulated.

Mrs Leadsom labelled the debate “important”, adding: “If we can agree the way forward on baby leave, I will drive that forward with my total commitment.”

Her remarks yesterday came at the end of a Commons debate in which several MPs shared their experiences of having to juggle their responsibilities.

Labour’s Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East) recalled giving birth shortly before last year’s snap General Election and suffering physically by campaigning just seven days after the arrival of baby Theo.

Conservative former Minister Maria Miller, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee, added: “It is 100 years on since the first woman sat in this place but it can, for many of us, still feel like we’re operating in an 18th-century model of work – and that is something that really does need to change.”