I am absolutely thrilled to bits for Angela Constance. I fell pregnant unexpectedly as I was focussed on an approaching election campaign (in my case the 1999 Euro election), and there's no greater feeling in the world. I have to admire her for getting through the recent election so serenely - I felt so sick during my pregnancy and the tiredness was something else. I wish Angela and her husband all the very best. I hope they enjoy this special time - the last for just them - and enjoy the adjustment to parenthood. It's the best thing you will ever do, and, nearly 8 years on, I can promise that it still gets better every day, even when you think it can't get any more fantastic.
I can only hope that the Labour opposition will act with sensitivity when it comes to Angela's maternity leave. The sensible thing for them to do, if they have the slightest commitment to equality, would be for them to immediately offer a pairing arrangment so that Angela would not have to rush back to Parliament prematurely and is able to take as much time as she needs and wants in those precious early days. Frankly, I don't care that it was the SNP who stopped the last pairing arrangement, in case anyone wants to comment to that effect. Now is what matters.
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Have to say the comments from the ever present Labour "spokesperson" were revealing.
"This is what happens when you are running a minority government. Every vote counts. They have failed to build a coalition and, as a consequence, things like this come into play - whether it is pregnancy, illness, scandal or, God forbid, death."
So they look forward to MSPs dying to get a Parliamentary advantage. Says a lot about Labour's moral compass.
Brownie points to the Lib Dems and Tories for letting Labour dig a hole for themselves as an uncaring, self-obessessed power hungry machine.
PS - The arrangement on pairing was official pairing which covered matters like official business (committee trips etc) rather than personal matters where unofficial pairing still occurred.
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