Stella Creasey forbidden from bringing her baby to Parliament

You wouldn’t need to bring your baby to school because you would be able to take maternity leave.

I want women of child bearing age to participate in Parliament, and part of that is being able to accommodate their needs when they are pregnant and have small children.

The way people pick over the exact wording of people's verbal statements is crazy. No one is going to use the exact most perfect language all the time, according to every person's various sensibilities.

Does anyone actually think that she believes babies that are easy to take places are morally superior to those who are more difficult? That is hugely unlikely, so trying to claim that's her meaning is just a gotcha attempt, and a distraction from the real question about infants in the chamber.

Precision in language is great, I'm a big fan, but it requires some awareness that in the real world, people are often less than perfectly precise, especially in verbal situations. Discrediting people because you don't like their exact word choice is not a tactic that should be encouraged.

She wasn't forbidden from bringing her baby to Parliament, she was forbidden to bring the baby into the chamber.

I have had babies that were well-behaved and quiet who I could take anywhere and breastfeed with no problem

I'm almost lost for words at that comment. You did not have "babies who were well-behaved".

Until a child is old enough to understand what it is being told to do, or not do, the concept of being "well-behaved" or "badly-behaved" is an irrelevant adult imposition.

I’m really confused now. So she does get maternity leave and a proxy vote, do I understand that right? So the issue was more that she wanted to go in, rather than had to?

Its interesting as my friend went to view a private school. Its a very hippy school. The head teacher shown them around whilst breastfeeding. My friend loved it - I would have been

I have had babies that were well-behaved and quiet who I could take anywhere and breastfeed with no problem. I've had babies where I wouldn't even try. I didn't sit home with the former just because some babies aren't as easy to take places.

As they get older most infants are more difficult to contain anyway, so the window for taking any baby to quiet places tends to be short. Luckily they can often wait to see mum longer by that time, too.

I really wished she hadst done that tbh. She has done women no favours. It was publicity stunt.

*inappropriate

I'm confused now.
If she gets maternity leave or can vote remotely or by proxy what is the point she is trying to make?
If it's just she wanted to take her baby to work then it is in appropriate for a mother or a father in most workplaces, including this one!

Imagine the outrage there would be on here if someone like say Jacob Rees- Mogg had complimented Creasey on her "well-behaved baby"

Not all jobs are suitable for being done with a small baby in attendance. If the baby is there, attention is being focused on the baby- not the job in hand.

MPs get six months paid maternity leave.
MPs can vote by proxy whilst on mat leave.
MPs can take their babies into the building, just not the chamber itself.
There is an on-site nursery.

I don’t understand. It seems much more new-mum friendly than anywhere I’ve ever worked??

Bit aggressive, there, @Warmduscher

“Do you seriously not understand the difference between a breastfed 3-month-old and a teenager?”

Of course I do. But as soon as a line is drawn, someone will want to step over it. We see this all the time in questions about “when does my son have to go into the male changing” in sports centres - even if there is a rule that says children must go into the adult changing appropriate to their sex at 8, there are often posters on here explaining why their child needs to be an exception.

Yes, I do understand that the House of Commons is not a municipal swimming pool, before you ask.

I cant imagine the HoC chamber being a very good environment to have a newborn in considering the way MPs conduct themselves during some debates!

I think it's bonkers that there isn't some system to allow MPs to vote remotely. I remember Michael Heseltine being wheeled in in a hospital bed to vote after he had a heart attack and that must be more than 25 years ago.

Creasey's partner is Dan Fox. Beyond being a former director of Labour Friends of Israel, he has almost no online presence to indicate what he does.

What's the problem with having a baby in the chamber?

This!
I find a lot of the reactions to be a bit knee-jerk. Just because it is not usually done or because there are some jobs where this would not work is no reason to reject someone that could be beneficial for all of us out of hand.

The workplace and the HoC was originally designed around men, but does it always have to be so?

I don't actually have a problem with an MP, or anyone else, having a baby at work in some cases to breastfeed. Of course not all babies may be amenable to this.

I don't think there is anything wrong with this kind of arrangement in many jobs. Not all jobs are the same and we don't need to treat them as if they are. That is just making things difficult for parents for no good reason. Nor do we have to deny women have a physical attachment that is ongoing and different to the attachment men have, that's just a denial of biological reality to prove some abstract point that's false anyway. If a job can be combined with breastfeeding effectively for some mums, great.

That being said, as an MP there would I think that there would be a need for another carer and I am not keen on new babies in creches.

I'm not so sure I think MPs should be on maternity leave, or, for that matter, other types of long term sick leave. It's a unique job in that the public has elected that person, in particular, to represent them for a period of a few years. It's not a job like other jobs. I tend to think that if MPs are going to be unable to do so for a significant amount of time, they should resign and run again at a later time. I would hope that the public would understand that these things sometimes happen unexpectedly and not hold it against them, though I expect some would.

Being an MP isn't a secure position anyone can rely on financially, even always for the election period, so that element isn't a factor in the same way as for most jobs.

I got six weeks at full pay. Then statutory which meant I could not possibly stay off work. I couldn't bring my baby to work - why is she so special? Work places are not somewhere you take babies - she needs to get child care like the rest of us