Babies not allowed in House of Commons

It has been stated that babies are not allowed in the House of Commons.

Following Labour’s Stella Creasy bringing her three-month-old baby into the House of Commons yesterday, November 24, it has been stated that bringing children is against the rules.

Ms Creasy was informed it was against the rules to bring children to a debate at Westminster Halls and Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has now asked the procedure committee to investigate.

She said she was “pleased to hear this” – as the rule means she could not enter the chamber to hear his statement.

Sir Lindsay told MPs it was “extremely important” for parents to be able to fully participate in the work of the House, and that is why it has a nursery.

“Rules have to be seen in context and they change with the times,” he told the House.

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Creasy said she had taken her son – who she is breastfeeding – to work with her regularly and had also brought her daughter into the chamber with her previously.

However, yesterday she received an email from the private secretary to the chairman of the ways and means committee, Dame Eleanor Laing, saying that bringing in children was not in line with recent rules on “behaviour and courtesies.”

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said he had “a lot of sympathy” for Ms Creasy and that politicians needed to make sure “our profession is brought into the modern world… [so] parents can juggle the jobs they do with the family time they need.”

However, he said bringing a baby into the commons “certainly wouldn’t distract me or get in the way of me doing my job” but said it was for the House authorities to decide the “right balance.”

Ms Creasy – who is campaigning for more mothers to enter politics in a campaign called This Mum Votes – shared the email on Twitter, writing: “Mothers in the mother of all parliaments are not to be seen or heard it seems…”

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).

Mothers in the mother of all parliament are not to be seen or heard it seems….#21stCenturyCalling pic.twitter.com/rKB7WbYQrL

— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) November 23, 2021

The rule book was updated in September.

It says: “You should not take your seat in the chamber when accompanied by your child, nor stand at either end of the Chamber, between divisions.”

However, MP Alex Davies-Jones said that she was told by Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle that she could breastfeed in the chamber if needed.

Ms Creasy said this was “not a system that works for anyone who isn’t a man of a certain age from a certain background.”

“I don’t have maternity cover – I don’t have the employment rights to have maternity cover,” she said, adding the situation as it stands “is bad for our democracy.”

When asked about changes that need to be made to help MPs who are new parents she said: “It’s too late for me – so I am trying my best to make sure Walthamstow continues to be heard because it deserves to be heard.”

“I’ve had a baby, I haven’t given up my brain or capacity to do things and our politics and our policy making will be better by having more mums at the table,” she added.

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