Jenny Willott, Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Central, has confirmed in a statement on her website that she would have voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill had she been able to be in Parliament yesterday. She is currently on maternity leave.
She said:
I am currently on maternity leave so was unable to vote yesterday, but I feel that it is important for my constituents to know how I would have voted, given the significance of this legislation. Equal marriage is central to the Liberal Democrat belief in a fair, free and open society, and I would have voted in favour of the Bill.”
I am thrilled that the Equal Marriage Bill was passed yesterday, in part thanks to many of my colleagues and the great work of Lynne Featherstone. I wholeheartedly support the bill and have always been a supporter of the right for same-sex couples to marry; if a couple wish to show their love and commitment to each other, I don’t believe the State should stand in their way.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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5 Comments
Is it not time that we had a mechanism to allow those MP’s on maternity leave to offer a proxy vote, or have some type of maternity cover, so as not to disenfranchise their constituents ? I would hate to think ANY working mother feels the need to rush back too soon and MP’s should be no different.
I was going to post but Steve Way has said it perfectly. What other job doesn’t have provision for maternity cover?
More Jenny, less Beith !!
Can you imagine the outcry if an important vote was lost or failed to be defeated due to an MP being unable to vote due to maternity or paternity leave.
Peter
I think in this case, it wasn’t thought such a close thing.
It’s not only a maternity issue.
In the dying (!) days of the Callaghan government every MP’s vote was so vital, that, in at least once case, a dying MP was brought in an ambulance to the Yard of the Palace of Westminster, which was apparently close enough to the House of Commons for his vote to be counted.