UK MP told not to bring her 3-month-old baby to parliament chambers
London, Nov 25: The Speaker of the House of Commons on Wednesday announced a review of the rules around babies being allowed into the Parliament chamber after a parliamentarian complained she was banned from carrying her three-month-old into the House.
Opposition Labour Party's Stella Creasy was informed it was against the rules to bring a child to a debate at Westminster Hall within the Parliament complex after doing so on Tuesday.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle asked the Commons Procedure Committee to look into the matter as he noted that it was "extremely important" for parents to be able to participate fully in the work of Parliament, which also has a nursery on the premises.
Rules have to be seen in context and they change with the times," he said in the House of Commons.
This House has to be able to function professionally and without disturbance. However, sometimes there may be occasions when the chair can exercise discretion assuming the business is not to be disturbed, Hoyle said.
Creasy, who took to Twitter after receiving an email informing her about the rule, has received the backing of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the matter.
We completely understand the difficulties faced by MPs who are new mothers, new fathers or adopted parents and parliament has made some positive changes to becoming more family friendly in recent years, including on proxy voting, a Downing Street spokesperson for Johnson said.
We want to make sure that all work places are modern, flexible and fit for parents. This is obviously a matter for the House. I know they have issued a statement on that today, but we very much do want to see further improvements, the spokesperson said.
Creasy told the BBC she had regularly taken her son who she is breastfeeding and before him, her daughter, into the Commons chamber.
But after appearing with her son at the adjoining Westminster Hall on Tuesday, she received an email from the Private Secretary to the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Dame Eleanor Laing, which said this was not in line with recently published rules on "behaviour and courtesies".
The rules, which were issued by the Speaker and deputy speakers and apply to the chamber of the House of Commons and Westminster Hall, was updated in September.
It reads: "You should not take your seat in the chamber when accompanied by your child, nor stand at either end of the Chamber, between divisions."
Creasy has been backed by other female parliamentarians who say that the system does not work for women in politics.
Apparently Parliament has written a rule which means I can’t take my well behaved, 3-month old, sleeping baby when I speak in chamber. (Still no rule on wearing masks btw).
— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) November 23, 2021
Mothers in the mother of all parliament are not to be seen or heard it seems….#21stCenturyCalling pic.twitter.com/rKB7WbYQrL
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BJP won't cross 50-mark in Bengal polls, says TMC in response to Shah's 'two-thirds majority' claim
Kolkata (PTI): The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of peddling falsehoods and making baseless claims about securing a two-thirds majority in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Senior TMC leader and state education minister Bratya Basu told reporters that Shah's remarks were based on hollow assertions and claimed that the BJP would not even cross the 50-seat mark in the polls.
"Shah will keep coming and going like a tourist. Such visits will serve no purpose," Basu said on the sidelines of a programme.
"The BJP will not even cross the 50-mark in the assembly polls and suffer a humiliating defeat," Basu claimed.
Addressing a press conference here, Shah claimed that the BJP would form the next government in the state with a "two-thirds majority in 2026".
"We will not only identify infiltrators, but we'll also drive them out. Bengal will have a new BJP government after April 15, 2026, as people have made up their minds," he said.
Shah also took a dig at the Trinamool Congress government on the issue of women's safety.
"It has been officially stated that women should not step out of their homes after 7 pm. What era are we living in? Are we living in the Mughal period?," he said.
"Mamata ji, this is a free India. Ensuring that women can step out safely whenever they choose is a constitutional right. Your government has failed to provide this basic security," he added.
Criticising Shah over his comments on women's safety in the state, senior TMC leader and minister Sashi Panja urged the Union home minister to visit Bengal during the festive season, like Durga Puja and Christmas, when thousands of women move about freely and participate in festivities.
"In case a stray incident happens, our administration takes prompt action to bring the culprits to book. Instead, the rapists of Bilkis Bano are garlanded by your party activists. Your party shields Kuldeep Sengar and Brij Bhusan, who were accused of committing atrocities. Amitji should not lecture on women's security," she said.
Panja accused Shah and his party at the Centre of coming in the way of the passage of the Aparajita Bill, which would have ensured exemplary punishment to rapists after conviction.
On Shah's claims about the industrial decline of Bengal, Panja said since 2011, investment of Rs 13.8 lakh-crore came to the state.
"Bengal occupies the second berth in the MSME sector as per the figures available with the Centre, and he is peddling falsehood about the industrial growth of Bengal," she said.
TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar also dismissed Shah's assertion that the BJP does not engage in temple-based polarising politics.
"Everyone knows the BJP campaigned on temple-masjid politics in both the 2019 and 2024 elections. This brand of politics will again be rejected by the people of Bengal," Majumdar said.
