Labour MP Tulip delays giving birth for Brexit crunch vote

British Labour Party lawmaker Tulip Siddiq has delayed the birth of her child in order to participate in the vote for Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Tulip, also the niece of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, pushed the date of her caesarean section to Thursday for the vote, reports BBC. 

The crunch vote for Theresa May’s Brexit deal will be held on Tuesday.

Tulip Siddiq has decided to be pushed through the voting lobby in a wheelchair.  

Her fellow Labour MP Harriet Harman said Tulip “should not have to choose” between her caesarean and her vote, according to the BBC.

Speaker of the Commons John Bercow said he would have preferred a proxy vote for Tulip however, he was happy that she has been “nodded through.”

The process means that an MP’s vote will be counted if the lawmaker is anywhere on the parliamentary estate. This system was traditionally used for ailing MPs.

Tulip Siddiq told the Evening Standard that she had a difficult first pregnancy with her two-year-old daughter, reports the BBC

She was originally due to give birth to her second child by caesarean section on February 4; however, her due date was brought forward as she developed gestational diabetes.

Tulip said: "If my son enters the world even one day later than the doctors advised, but it's a world with a better chance of a strong relationship between Britain and Europe, then that's worth fighting for."

There is a system in parliament called “pairing” for MPs who cannot cast votes. The system states that an MP on either side of an issue should agree not to vote, thus cancelling each other out. However, Labour lawmaker Tulip said she did not trust the system.