SNP MP censured for bringing her children to Commons committee

An SNP MP has called for the Westminster parliament to adopt a more family-friendly approach after she was censured by Commons authorities for bringing her children to a committee hearing.

Kirsty Blackman usually leaves her two young children in the care of their father in Aberdeen while she travels to London for the Commons working week. But last week she experienced childcare difficulties because parliament’s summer recess follows English school holidays, while Scottish schools break up at the beginning of July.

Writing in Tuesday’s Daily Record, the member for Aberdeen North, who was one of the cohort of first-time SNP MPs elected in May 2015, described the often comical difficulties she faced when she was left with no choice but to bring two-year-old Rebecca and five-year-old Harris to her place of work.

“The chief issue is the ridiculously archaic voting system. MPs have to physically be present to vote … As the division bells rang to signal [an unexpectedly early vote on Wednesday], both my children were on the toilet. I’m sure ‘hurry up’ is the last thing anyone wants to hear during a bowel movement, but they both took it fairly well,” Blackman writes.

“I did make them run afterwards though, and I made it into the division lobby with only moments to spare.

“I also took them through the lobby with me. This is definitely not supposed to happen. But I have yet to work out what the house expects us to do with small children who are not allowed in the lobby. How do I explain to a two-year-old that she has to stay with adults she has never met so I can vote? The system is nonsensical and overdue for reform.”

Blackman also took her children to a Scottish affairs select committee meeting last Tuesday, where they sat at the back of the room drawing pictures and playing with an iPad.

Blackman explains: “This worked really well until Rebecca started falling asleep. She had been up until nearly 11pm the night before because the Trident vote was late at night. I couldn’t really leave her sleeping slumped in her chair so I picked her up and took her back to my seat.”

After the meeting, the MP received a caution from clerks for breaching rules.

Blackman concludes her article by calling for the removal of barriers faced by parents of young children in carrying out their duties as members of parliament.

She writes: “We must push for change to ensure that parliament is more family friendly and that parents of young children find it easier to stand for parliament and easier to undertake their roles.

“There are all sorts of other barriers to parents in parliament – the government sets the recess dates and can give little notice of these, the house business is only set a week in advance so we cannot easily plan our travel to take account of vital votes, plus lack of ad-hoc childcare and the aforementioned summer recess issue.

“My children can’t attend parliament’s nursery, for example, as they are not based in London full time. We need to do what we can to highlight these issues and improve them.”