Stella Creasey forbidden from bringing her baby to Parliament

If13:44 poshmepost is correct the situation is covered.

Letting an enelected person have access to and vote in the H of C?

Letting and unelected person have access to papers which may well have security and confidentiality issues?

If 13:44 poshme post is covered the situation is covered.

As for But I guess some will prefer to be insulted by how she describes her son at any given moment! - can you seriously not see what is problematic with what she said? A three months old baby is neither "well- behaved" nor "badly- behaved".

It makes her look smug and dim.

She can take the baby to work, she can have the baby in her office or when she is voting and she can use the creche.

I think maternity leave is difficult, she would be getting paid even if she wasn't in parliament, if Geoffrey Cox can sod off to the Caribbean for months it doesn't seem like they have to be there every day.

What would happen with maternity leave? Does that mean you don't have representation in parliament for six months or as has been suggested is it OK if your elected representative just nominates someone else to do it? Do we want non elected MPs? I don't think I do.

I'm not sure what the answer is that is fair to everyone.

[quote Warmduscher]@EmmaGrundyForPM

So she didn’t use the word “naughty” then? Thought not.[/quote]
Oh please- she described her baby as "well- behaved". It has been explained very clearly what is wrong with that choice of words.

I'm also against.

Doesn't Stella Creasey have a husband?
Can't he hold the baby while she does surgeries and speeches?

Is her £80k+ salary with expenses and Second Home not enough to be able to afford child care?

She's being bizarre. Yes children need their mums. No children don't need to be brought into work.

@EmmaGrundyForPM

So she didn’t use the word “naughty” then? Thought not.

Another case on MPs not living in the real world, I'd love to take my baby to work, but it would be distracting for me and everyone else.

In terms of representing constituents

There’s a nursery though isn’t there? I can’t think of many jobs where you could come in with a 3 month old baby.

I assumed she did it to make a point.

@Cailleach1 exactly. She's really pissed me off with that argument which feeds into the narrative about babies who cry bring "difficult" or "manipulative". Or implying she's managing to keep her baby quiet because she's a super mother and the rest of it are just doing it wrong!

[quote EmmaGrundyForPM]@Warmduscher SC tweeted that her 3-month-old is "well behaved" and therefore should be allowed in the HoC chamber.[/quote]
Will SC be happy if the baby is called badly behaved if she/he cries? Or is fussy for whatever reason? I think the term was ill chosen. Not sure about the main issue.

MPs can access debates remotely. They can vote by proxy whilst on parental leave.

So I don’t see why not allowing babies into the House of Commons means MPs are unable to represent their constituents.

What is far more likely to prevent MPs with new babies representing their constituents properly is the fact they have to look after a newborn so simply don’t have time to listen, consider, lobby etc. Juggling both may be easy as pie for Stella and her well behaved baby, but is rather harder for most new mothers.

We need a system of maternity cover for MPs. Not an unrealistic expectation that they continue to do their job in full with a newborn attached to them.

It also begs the question, where is the father in all this? Can he not help out at all? It seems that Stella has a lot of options, more than most, but has chosen not to use any of them. If she wants to be fully attached to her baby at all times, maybe having a job isn't for her right now. That's a choice that is also open to her and a choice that lots of women with 3 month old babies take. However, if she wants to continue as an MP, serving her constituents and Country, she needs to put reasonable measures in place to make that work. Like the rest of us do and do with less help than her.

Parliament is a forum for debate. That's the whole point and not helped by the squalling baby.

And there's a creche on site. So to be honest, I think it's the right decision.

@Warmduscher SC tweeted that her 3-month-old is "well behaved" and therefore should be allowed in the HoC chamber.

They get leave but cannot get appropriate maternity cover. She is speaking on Rdio 2 now, makes pefect sense.

Restricting maternity cover is making getting younger women interested in politics difficult.

But I guess some will prefer to be insulted by how she describes her son at any given moment!

MPs can take off as much time as they like after having a baby- there is no time limit. They are paid in full during this time.

MPs who have just had a baby can get a proxy vote where someone votes on their behalf.

There is a nursery onsite which is open until 1030pm to allow MPs to be in parliament.

MPs can get extra expenses towards staffing to help cover the cost of extra work in the constituency.

There are lots of other women MPs who do not support her campaigning on this- MPs are not employed. They are office holders, and their working conditions are not 'normal'. MPs know this when they take on the job. If she had her way, there'd be an unelected person in the House of Commons, while she stayed at home on full pay.

Sorry if I am wrong about Maternity Leave?! My understanding was that they didn't get it.

Did Stella Creasey use the word “naughty”?

Or was that just you?

Stella Creasey made an utterly ridiculous comment about her "well- behaved" 3 months old baby.

No 3 months old child is "well-behaved" or "badly- behaved"

It's ludicrous to attribute the concept of choosing how to behave to a 3 months old baby.

I understand that things pop up for eg childcare falling through. But the work culture should be one where parents are allowed to take time off to look after them.

Not everyone is willing or able to leave their babies with strangers at 3 months old. I appreciate that this was more normal in the past when maternity provision was crap, and more normal in the USA still, but I don't think it is a particularly reasonable expectation when most people are entitled to Mat Leave of longer than that in this country.

It wasn't unreasonable for her to expect to be able to bring her baby with her when another MP brought their baby in before. But clearly someone had taken issue with that and wanted the rules on babies clear and enforced.

Or was that just you?

It was said on here that MPs don't get maternity pay- they do.

What have locums got to do with this? A locum can't possibly attend and vote at the Commons.

She certainly should not be allowed to take her baby into the chamber. As an aside, her language about a 'well-behaved baby' is extremely offensive and potentially affects mothers with PND. A 3 month old baby who cries is not being naughty FFS!