SNP MSP not named on baby loss certificate as he lives in Scotland

Cat Smith, a Labour MP for Lancaster and Wyre, said her partner David Linden, the MSP for Glasgow Baillieston and Shettleston, was not allowed to be named on the baby loss certificate they were given because they live in separate parts of the UK.

She said the system did not match up because she lives in England and Mr Linden lives in Scotland, meaning the certificate they received had a blank father section.

Ms Smith is now calling for the NHS to extend the rules on baby loss certificates in England.

These certificates were launched in England in 2024, and parents whose babies die before 24 weeks of pregnancy are eligible for them, even if their miscarriage or baby loss took place years ago.

This was extended to Northern Ireland earlier this year.

Meanwhile in Scotland, parents who have experienced a miscarriage can get a memorial book of pregnancy and baby loss.

Ms Smith made the comments during a debate on baby loss in the House of Commons on Monday night.

She said she had been invited to the maternity unit’s bereavement suite at the Royal Lancastrian Infirmary, but she never attended as “she never wanted to see the inside of it”.

Ms Smith said: “Unfortunately, in June this year, I did get to see the inside. But not as an MP there with the ribbon being cut - it was as a grieving parent.

“The thing about miscarriages is that when you leave the hospital, you don’t have anything apart from maybe some leaflets from the Miscarriage Association.

“The one thing I want to talk about today … is about baby loss certificates because that is one thing you can have and you can hold when you’ve got nothing else of your baby’s.”

She added: “There’s an inconsistency where parents don’t live in the same part of the UK.

“The issue stems from the verification process, which uses NHS numbers and postcodes to confirm eligibility, but it results in the problem whereby the baby loss certificates that I have, does have my name on as the mother, and are left blank where the father’s name should be.

“Not because he doesn’t want to be on that certificate, but because the system says no, because his postcode is wrong.

“So you can’t have both parents’ names on the baby loss certificate when you live in different parts of the United Kingdom.”

UK Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said she would give “a personal undertaking” to raise Ms Smith’s testimony with the Scottish Government.

Responding to the debate, Ms Cooper said: “I will absolutely follow this up directly, on baby loss certificates, with the Scottish Government because it’s just unthinkable that she could be left in such a distressing situation, and that other people will be in a similar distressing situation for a lack of coordination between governments.”

This comes just a week after a leading baby loss charity called for “radical reform” of the support offered to families in Scotland, saying there are inequalities and gaps in the services provided.

Held In Our Hearts said there needs to be a roll-out of specialist bereavement support to help grieving parents with relationship breakdowns, job losses, self-harm and suicide.

Nicola Welsh, chief executive of Held In Our Hearts, said: “Scotland suffers 70 pregnancy and baby losses a day. Scotland needs radical reform in support. The loss of your own baby is a devastating life event that requires specialist bereavement support.

“There is a gap in service between a clinical transition to care in the community for individuals facing baby loss. Scotland’s public spending on adult mental health services already exceeds £1.2 billion annually.

“Current provision for pregnancy and baby loss remains unequal, and there is currently no minimum framework to support families across Scotland.”

Mr Linden raised this issue in Holyrood last week during a debate on the topic. Both the Westminster and the Holyrood debates were scheduled to coincide with baby loss awareness week, which began on October 9.

He said resolving the issue would bring “an awful lot of serenity” to grieving parents.

Mr Linden said: “We need to understand that families come in very different shapes and sizes.

“People’s arrangements are very different.

“The reality is that the arrangements around the baby loss certificate mean that if a father is domiciled in Scotland, he cannot be recognised as the father of that child, and the same thing goes for the arrangements in Scotland - if the other parent is domiciled in England, they are not recognised.”

He added: “We will not be the only people who have been affected by that, but when things really matter to you, they really matter.”

Scottish Public Health Minister Maree Todd replied: “I am ashamed to say that I was not aware of the issue that David raised.

“I am absolutely more than happy to commit to resolving that cross-border issue, and I will keep him updated on progress.”

Mr Linden was formerly the MP for Glasgow East from 2017 until the general election in 2024.

However he then won a seat in Holyrood at the Scottish Parliament election in May. He won the Glasgow Baillieston and Shettleston seat for the SNP with 12,075 votes. The deputy Scottish leader of Reform UK, Thomas Kerr, came second with 6,972 votes, followed by Pauline McNeill from Scottish Labour on 5,885 votes.

Since entering Holyrood a few months ago, he has been appointed the chair of the parliament’s criminal justice committee and sits on the cross-party group on housing.