"My hon. Friend is absolutely right. No one in this House wants us to give ourselves better conditions than people outside, but we are now actually lagging a long way behind and are in danger of setting a bad example in that respect...." Baroness Harman - View Speech
“Erskine May”, our parliamentary rules bible, says absolutely nothing about pregnancy, which is no surprise at all. It used to be the case that the overwhelming majority of Members were men. It was not that those men were not parents; it was just …..." Baroness Harman - View Speech
"I certainly do agree and I congratulate my hon. Friend. I am looking forward to meeting the new arrival.
The reason we are proposing this change now is that the House has changed profoundly in its attitudes and its membership. Now, many men want and expect to play their part …..." Baroness Harman - View Speech
"Absolutely. Having talked to colleagues in all parts of the House, I know that fathers feel as strongly as mothers about this issue. That is a real change. It is really gratifying to me to see younger men who are determined to be not only excellent Members of this House …..." Baroness Harman - View Speech
"That might well be the case in future, but for the moment we are talking about maternity, paternity and adoption, and we should focus on that.
I never thought I would see the day when the sons of the women’s movement arrived in this House—but they are here. They want …..." Baroness Harman - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Lady, who has been unstinting in her support. We have worked together on this. She is absolutely right. That is why I called it baby leave rather than maternity and paternity leave, and why I refer to parents and their children.
"That is a really important point. I hope that we can think of some arrangements that can be made to deal with the issue of SNP Members until such time as we zoom this process through.
Granting or withholding a pair is an important role for the Opposition Whips Office. …..." Baroness Harman - View Speech