Tulip Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, has urged for reform on passport regulations after she was stopped by UK border control as she did not have the same surname in her passport as her child.
The mother and daughter were later allowed to proceed after Tulip’s husband and the child’s father joined them, the Guardian reports.
Subsequently, Tulip called for a change in border control regulations, as extra security measures to guard against child trafficking were both stressful and time consuming.
According to the Guardian, Siddiq found that about 600,000 women had been asked to prove they were related to their child by UK border control over the last five years, with many suffering long delays if they were not in possession of marriage or birth certificates.
“Things are changing and the law needs to catch up. I want to find a way to change this. I don’t know why I should be penalised for not changing my name. I got married aged 30, I lived my life, I had a reputation under my maiden name,” Tulip said.
“I understand why these precautions need to be taken, it’s to stop people taking advantage of vulnerable children and I get that. I don’t want to stop anything that prevents abuse of children. But what I do think is that the law needs to recognise more and more children will not have their mothers’ surnames,” she added.
The labour MP was returning from a family vacation in France, with husband Chris Percy and 18-month-old daughter Azalea, when the incident occurred. Tulip and their daughter had temporarily been separated from her husband at UK border control, when the MP was allowed to use the fast-track queue.
Tulip said the tone of questioning by the border control official, which had “a real air of suspicion,” had made her uncomfortable and made her feel like she had done something wrong.
“I don’t want my daughter to have to go through that kind of questioning as she grows older because it won’t happen with her father, only with me. I don’t think it’s a good message to send to young women. It’s a very uncomfortable experience and you are made to feel like you have done something wrong, by travelling on a family holiday as a woman who hasn’t changed her last name,” she said, as she called for the names of both parents to be put on chidren’s passports.
Meanwhile, a UK Home Office statement issued in this regard said that they try to safeguard children with as little disruption to passengers as possible, and recommended parents names be written on the “Emergencies” page of children’s passports.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
