Breastfeeding British opposition MP told to stop bringing infant into House of Commons

A British lawmaker Stella Creasy called for reforms on Wednesday after she was told by the House of Commons authorities it was against the rules to bring her sleeping baby to a debate.

Stella Creasy, an opposition lawmaker who has campaigned for MPs to be offered maternity leave, received a warning after speaking at a debate on Tuesday while holding her three-month-old son Pip.

The Labour MP for the London constituency of Walthamstow tweeted an email from an official at the House of Commons citing a rule that "you should not take your seat in the Chamber when accompanied by a child."

Creasy and other MPs questioned the ruling, which appeared to stand at odds with previous directives on the practice.

Alex Davies-Jones, a Labour MP, tweeted that when elected in 2019 she was breastfeeding and the Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle assured her she would be able to feed her baby in the main chamber of Westminster Hall, a historic building used for some MPs' sessions.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson was reportedly the first to do so in 2018.

The MP has regularly brought her baby son, who is still being breastfed, to debates, as she previously did with her daughter.

"He's very tiny" and "perhaps some of my colleagues are noisier than him," she told Sky News, calling for a more flexible approach from parliamentary authorities.

Stella Creasy speaks with her newborn baby strapped to her during the session. AFP

Creasy has campaigned unsuccessfully for MPs to get full rights to maternity leave. "When you're a mum you can't win," she told Sky News. Other MPs backed her. "I've got quite a lot of sympathy with Stella," Justice Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News.

"We need to make sure we're in the 21st century," he said, while adding it was up to the parliamentary authorities to "work out what the right balance is."

The British government in February announced it would introduce six-month paid maternity leave for senior ministers, but MPs are not entitled to this.

Creasy in 2019 became the first MP to hire a locum to work on her behalf in her constituency after her daughter's birth but was not allowed to do this again.

Agence France-Presse