AIBU - Ill MPs being made to come to London to vote?

[NC172938]

Just read about the Labour MP who yesterday discharged herself from hospital in order to make a 4 hour journey to vote on Brexit.

I think it's awful that the established "pairing" system was abandoned by the government as clearly that has long since been a solution which in the long run benefits all parties.

But the article I read said that the Labour whips had told her to come to London and wait outside Parliament in the car. So it's not like her own bosses told her to stay at home and rest!

More generally, I just struggle to understand the whole parliamentary culture which created this sorry saga. I agree that the decision to leave hospital in order to vote is up to her. But to be totally honest I think it perpetuates some dangerous trends. If it's considered essential to discharge yourself from hospital when seriously ill in order to go to work, there is clearly something very wrong with the working culture in Parliament...

AIBU?

there are a lot of things like this that are wrong and hugely outdated in Parliament IMHO.

If they are that sick that they must not leave hospital they should stand down. It's the same with maternity leave. I believe it's one of the very few positions that you can't take leave from just because the term is so short and selection is by vote of the people you represent.

@Want2bSupermum

you want MPs to stand down from their role because they had the bad luck of being in an accident? That is properly batshit.

In gules brandretj book when he was a whip-he used to have to go into courtyard and get votes fron seriously ill MPs who had been ambulanced there

@Want2bSupermum

MPs are off ill all the time, though. Out of ~650 people and over the course of five years, you're bound to get dozens of flu bouts, broken arms, pregnancies...

If every MP resigned when they were ill for a week or two (like this woman has been), there'd be vacancies non stop.

Surely the better way to do it is to introduce some sort of last-resort remote voting system for MPs who are well enough to sit up in bed but not well enough to go to London. But even that has its problems from a health/workers' rights point of view IMO.

Not that pregnancy is an illness obviously - but an event that requires medical attention!

That type of thing has been going on a long time. If i'm correct "pairing" was stopped many years ago when Labour secretly broke their pairing promises during a crucial vote.

They make out it's a Tory issue when actually another Labour MP who was pregnant was thanking the Tories for matching her off so she didn't have to travel. Strange how little press that's getting. Fairly sure no Tory insisted this one attend - maybe if Labour looked after their MPs better they'd have sorted it out in advance so there was no need for her to be there.

A couple of weeks off is fine. It's when it's more than a month off that I think it should be considered if they should be standing down.

As for pregnancy, I didn't have easy pregnancies and worked through to the end. After two weeks I'd be able to do things like a crucial vote. Obviously not everyone can do this but taking more than 3 months off should not be considered acceptable.

If an MP is ill, for any reason they should not be called in to vote. No one can help getting ill, in an accident or have a difficult pregnancy. The pairing arrangements should be reintroduced. Parliament wouldn’t function if an MP had to step down when they got the flu, broken leg, horrible pregnancy. I’ve been off work numerous times in my career for pneumonia, broken ankle, pregnancy related illness but never would I have considered resigning.

My MP is 40 weeks pregnant and had to be there for the vote yesterday. You'd think in this day and age there would be a system whereby someone from her party could have a proxy vote or the Speaker texts her and asks for her vote or something.

Pairing was broken when Labour stopped doing it, not the government fyi.

parker A career is different. An MP is elected for 4 years. They are the voice of their constituents. I don't think you can or should equate it to a career.

She was expecting to be able to sit in her car and have a whip come out to take her vote (as someone above described Giles Brandreth doing when he was a whip) but allegedly Tories insisted she attend not just the vote but the debate before it. So she was brought into the House in her pyjamas, in a wheelchair, carrying a sick bucket (because she was reacting adversely to morphine).

Parliament is archaic, and the way it is set up is to suit old men, not younger women (or men) with families.

They have to be there until 10/11pm some nights.

And there was one MP there - lib dem Jo Swinson - who is 9 months pregnant and past her due date!

allegedly Tories insisted she attend not just the vote but the debate before it.
No-one could insist she attend. That's the point. She could have stayed in hospital / at home / in a Tesco's cafe if she wanted. She'll have been there because the LABOUR whips insisted.
(Perfectly reasonable to be expected to attend a debate first if you're going to vote - you should know what you're voting for & what others are saying)