'Flora needs me': MP caring for wife hits out at Jacob Rees-Mogg's plan
Jamie Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP, hesitates before trying to explain why he is opening up about the running of baths, the opening of tins and holding of hands that he does for his wife, Flora, since she suffered a stroke three years ago.
“Speaking about this is not easy. I am actually rather embarrassed to have to mention it. But I am so shocked by what Jacob Rees-Mogg is trying to shove through parliament that I am going to have to speak up,” he said.
The House of Commons is poised to return on Tuesday after its Whitsun recess, but without the remote voting and video participation in debates that were introduced when parliament sat during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Rees-Mogg, the leader of the house, has instead proposed a motion that requires voting to take place in person at the Palace of Westminster while MPs follow Public Health England distancing guidance.
Critics have claimed the plan will disenfranchise those MPs who are shielding or have caring responsibilities for anyone who could be vulnerable to the disease.
As MP for the Highland constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Stone has flown back from Westminster for three-day weekends with Flora since his 2017 election. Now, amid the pandemic, he feels compelled to stay alongside her.
“In previous times we had carers who came in at various times during the week. But now with Covid and with services stretched, I am the carer and I do it for the love of my wife, no problem,” he said.
Since suffering a stroke, Flora is susceptible to falls. “She needs physical help doing things. I run the bath for her, I open tins, we have a bath lift,” he said.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Stone took on the entirety of her care as they were worried about carers coming in and inadvertently passing on the virus.
There are other considerations too, Stone said, such as why should 650 potential carriers of a deadly disease be encouraged to travel from the cramped corridors of Westminster back to areas such as his constituency with a low incidence of the disease?
“If I were to go to London and pick up a disease I could come back and start a hotspot. The alternative is to go to London and stay there until mid-July. But that is completely untenable for my wife.
“Flora needs me and I have a duty to constituents not to bring the virus back with me from London. People have been incredibly kind and have been very grateful for that,” he said.
If the house approves the government plan on Tuesday, MPs may have to form kilometre-long queues in order to obey physical distancing rules when voting – despite the Lords planning a move online.
The former cabinet minister Karen Bradley is leading a rebellion against the ending of the hybrid Commons proceedings, which allowed for remote voting and virtual debates.
Bradley, now the chair of the powerful procedure committee, has put forward amendments that would allow those MPs not able to travel to Westminster to keep participating in debates via video link and to vote remotely.
Stone said Rees-Mogg’s proposals would abandon MPs with caring responsibilities. “He is putting me and others in a very impossible position. I am being told I have to choose between the health and wellbeing of my disabled wife or represent my constituents.
“We shouldn’t be forced to compromise our family and our constituents when there is another way,” he said.
