Give women politicians with babies new rights and stop calling them 'lazy', MPs urge

Women politicians are calling for better maternity and paternity rights for MPs to stop them being branded “lazy” for not turning up to vote.

A cross-party group of female politicians will tell the Commons today that they want proxy voting and for the official parliamentary record Hansard to state who is on parental leave.

The demands, made by Labour MP Tulip Siddiq and Conservative chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee Maria Miller, come after Labour’s Harriet Harman suggested six months’ paid leave for new mothers.

Ms Siddiq, 35, who took just six weeks off after the birth of a daughter in 2016, said: “The voting system is unfair as it doesn’t state whether someone is ill or having a baby. It just says that an MP didn’t turn up for a vote and has no explanation attached. My fellow MPs have faced hostility from their constituents and the media who have previously accused them of being lazy.”

No formal arrangements exist for MPs to take time off after a birth. The length of time an MP is away from Parliament is agreed with the chief whip. Absent MPs can cancel each other out by “pairing” with an opposite party member, so it has no effect on the outcome of a vote. However, months of missed votes can skew an MP’s performance on third-party websites that track their attendance and voting record.

Ms Siddiq, MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, said: “I found it really difficult to miss votes when I first had Azalea. If there had been a standard system in place I would have taken it.”

Within weeks of giving birth Ms Siddiq was working on the case of constituent Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife had been jailed in Iran. She said she had to hold the meeting in her living room, switching between breast-feeding and taking notes, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn held her baby.

She said: “Both men in that room demonstrated serious comradely spirit, taking time to come to my house to accommodate me, not battling an eyelid when I breastfed while discussing women’s prisons. It’s that ethos we now need to bring to Parliament.”