Forum Topic

Levelling up

I really do not understand why on earth the government are not taking the opportunity to ensure that all women MPs are treated equally as far as maternity rights are concerned. If Johnson can rush through legislation for his mate Braverman then he could damned well use the time to make sure that that it includes everyone. It is an absolute insult in this day and age that this out of date codswallop even exists let alone that given the chance parliament won't as they say, 'level up'. This is 2021 not that you'd know it where our legislature is concerned. Stella Creasey is absolutely right it is 'a form of direst discrimination'.At least the stupid old fart heading up the Japanese Olmypics has resigned over his comments - Ye Gods, spare us!

Vanessa Smith ● 2084d9 Comments

Not sure, MP’s are voted in by their constituents for short term job, if they want take a year out leaves a problem and having a non voted representative caretaker not ideal......clearly this is not as clear cut.

Jayne Thorburn ● 2083d

If 'this is not as clear cut' then why not take this opportunity to clear it up? Just changing the rules for one of your mates doesn't cut it, this is the 21st century. Women still have to give birth and they are entitled to have that fully taken into account regardless of how long the job lasts.

Vanessa Smith ● 2083d

Are we talking about those people who have babies and talk too much?With such are the attitudes prevailing it's no wonder there's not much change.

Sarah Vickers ● 2083d

Yes, the very same, I was shocked to find out that in this day and age a woman minister was expected to resign if she was having a baby, but to then realise that a golden opportunity to modernise and ensure equal treatment for all female MPs was going to be passed up was equally incredulous. Why is it so difficult for men in parliament to understand this?

Vanessa Smith ● 2083d

As a bloke, I'm probably not allowed to have opinions on these matters, but here goes anyway!First, let's be quite clear - MPs are already entitled to paid maternity (and paternity / adoption) leave.  So there is no discrimination in this sense.The issue is how the job is back-filled when the MP is on leave.  As Jayne says, this is not straightforward.  Partly, this is because there is no job desription for an MP - each MP does what he/she sees fit.  Partly, it is because an MP does multiple jobs - local social case-worker, legislator, select committee member scrutinising the government etc. And it is not clear how you could effectively stand in for some of these roles.But the most fundamental difficulty is that which Jayne alluded to - the fact that (at least in principle) an MP is elected to represent her/his constituents as an individual.  You may not like your MP's party but you voted for him/her because you like her/his stand on local issues.  Would you feel happy with someone parachuted in by central office with no feel for the locality?  Would you feel happy about the replacement of a serial rebel with someone who tows the party line?  or vice versa?  How is the MP expected to vote? In accordance with the views of the MP on leave?  In which case the replacement is simply casting a proxy vote which could be done by an existing MP and the MP on leave is not in fact on leave as she/he will have to do the work to decide how the vote should be cast.  Or is the vote cast according to the views of the replacement? - which may not be the same as the one on leave (see preceding comments).I'm not at all sure how you solve these fundamental questions - it's no use saying that in this day and age it should be solvable - actual proposals need to be put forward.  And until these questions are solved, you can't back-fill the job.The situation with Ministers is quite different.  Ministers have two hats - as MPs and as Mnisters.  They get maternity/paternity leave from the MP role regardless of what happens with the Ministerial role.  They are appointed to that Ministerial role by the PM to do a defined job.  So in principle, appointing someone else to back-fill the Ministerial role is relatively straightforward - the job is defined and only the PM has to be satisfied as to the suitability of the replacement.  But until recently it wasn't legally possible for there to be maternity / paternity leave from the Ministerial position (the Minister had to resign) and it was this which was cleared up (and rightly so)

Andrzej Kowalski ● 2083d

This is not about money. It is also worth pointing out that Stella Creasey managed to get permission for a 'locum' MP when she was on maternity leave a couple of years ago. Presumably that worked well, so must have been worth investigating and incorporating into any new legislation? The problem with the way it's being dealt with at the moment is that we could have a two tier system that only applied to women MPs. I cannot believe that this cannot be resolved - if the political will is there.

Vanessa Smith ● 2083d

Stella Creasy's locum MP was only there to cover her constituency work - not her parliamentary work.  The constituency work doesn't raise those difficult representational issues which I discused.I agree that it's not about the money - it's about how answering those difficult questions that Jayne and I raised about how those parliamentary duties are dealt with.  To some extent that is a matter of political will - but it's not, I think, political will on the part of the government - it's about the political will of all parliamentarians to confront those issues.  What are your suggestions about how they ought to be dealt with?And it's not true that this applies only to women MPs - the exact same issues arise if a man takes paternity or adoption leave.

Andrzej Kowalski ● 2083d

And I agree that the money for the "locum MP" for constituency work should be enshrined in law, not having to be fought with IPSA on a case by case basis.Incidentally, Stella Creasy was able to vote by proxy (Peter Kyle MP exercised her proxy on her behalf), although amendments couldn't be tabled on her behalf, nor would someone have been able to carry out her select committee duties (if she had any) on her behalf.

Andrzej Kowalski ● 2083d

Of course it is the political will of parliament as a whole but the government of the day should lead on this. And of course the same leave provisions should be available to male MPs as regards paternity/adoption leave. It is the lack of imagination and willigness to look beyond one cabinet minister when the opportunity has now presented itself. These anomolies should be addressed and the sooner the better.

Vanessa Smith ● 2083d