Karin Smyth told a House of Commons debate about her experiences of combining her job as Bristol South’s MP with being mum to three boys aged 16, 13 and 10.
During a special debate exploring ‘family-friendly’ approaches in Parliament, the Labour MP spoke of the reaction of her children’s friends, teachers and journalists in Bristol to the dual role she now fulfils.
But her speech stressed the need for Parliamentarians to look outside of Westminster and recognise that whilst MPs sometimes have a degree of flexibility in their working hours, this isn’t the case for most working people. “Actually, a lot of people leave home during the week to do their job,” she said.
Read the transcript of Karin Smyth’s speech here
Watch a video here (4 mins 25 secs long)