Baby leave for MPs: debate in the Commons on Thursday Feb 1

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

Some of you will remember the guest post we had from Harriet Harman MP calling for MPs (men and women) to be given formal 'baby leave' from their parliamentary and constituency duties when they have a baby, and to be able to nominate proxies who would vote for them in Parliament. You can read the guest post here if you missed it at the time.

This Thursday there's going to be a debate and vote on this issue in the Commons, and Harriet Harman's office has been in touch to ask MNers who support the initiative to tweet or email their MP and ask them to support the motion.

Harriet Harman says:

"On Thursday 1 February MPs will have the chance to debate, and vote, to bring in a system for baby leave for women and men in Parliament. We set the rules for maternity and paternity leave. But for MPs ourselves there is no system at all. It used to be the case that there were hardly any women MPs (only 3% when I was first elected). Now there are over 200 women MPs - in all parties - and many of them are young and having babies. Since 2010 17 babies have been born to women MPs. And many more babies have been born to men MPs. It used to be the case that for the men MPs their babies were entirely a matter for their wife. Nowadays most men want to be there for the birth of their child and play a part in those early weeks and months."

"The further problem with the current pairing system is that when you are off with a new baby your vote is not recorded. Your constituency is voiceless. The record shows that you abstained. It looks like you couldn’t be bothered to vote. The constituency shouldn’t lose its voice if their MP is giving birth or has rushed to attend his wife’s labour, and social media resounds with the criticism of MPs who didn’t vote on this or that key issue."

"Women and men MPs from all parties have joined me, Tory MP Maria Miller, Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson and SNP MP Hannah Bardell, in asking the Commons to agree on Thursday that MPs should be entitled to apply for a proxy vote for a period after they’ve had a baby or adopted a child. It’s long overdue. 35 years too late for me but better late than never!"

As ever, please do let us know what you think.

Thanks
MNHQ

[GloGirl]

You can find the details of your MP here

www.theyworkforyou.com/

The more we can get support mothers in Parliament, the more we can get mums represented in policies and legislation.

Thanks for the heads up MNHQ.

[SmurfOrTerf]

Maybe Harriet would like to pop over to the feminist boards, where she is being discussed.

[TooLazyForDrama]

Done.

[NataliaOsipova]

It's a tricky one, because of the elected nature of the post.
Your nominated proxies aren't people who've been democratically elected by that group of constituents. What happens if, say, someone is ill for a period of time? What arrangements are put in place then?

Agree that something "should be done" though. We need to do everything we can to make politics an attractive option for talented people and not the preserve of the thick skinned, the independently rich and celebrity seekers.

[Rainbowsandflowers78]

Agree but only on the basis the proxy votes as the original mp directs. 6 months would seem an apt time period given the law currently allows us ‘normal’ people to return to our same jobs for about this time. If we have longer off the jobs have to be similar from recollection.

[Hugepeppapigfan]

Why can’t the MP ‘vote from home’. It seems crazy that they have to be there in person really in this modern age...... debates are televised or surely a video conferencing solution could be found.

[Rainbowsandflowers78]

Huge - there’s the potential for corruption and disruption. It’s not appropriate for such important things like setting legislation to be done remotely.

[Hugepeppapigfan]

And it’s inappropriate for an elected representative not to be able to represent!

[NataliaOsipova]

Directing a proxy or voting from home presumably requires the MP to be fully up to speed with the issues and the policies; you wouldn't want your MP just blindly following instructions.

It's difficult. If I think about it, the procedurally correct solution must be to have a temporary by election where a cover was elected for a set period of time. Bloody expensive and difficult to arrange, though....