Labour’s Disgraceful Claim Babies Will Die If The Tories Win Copeland is Disgusting, Says Father Of Stillborn Boy

by Guest Wed Feb 22, 2017 10:23 am

The father of a stillborn baby has attacked Labour for its “disgusting” claim that mothers and babies will die if the Tories win the Copeland by-election. Will Quince, Tory MP for Colchester, Essex, was left “angry and sad in equal measure” by a Labour leaflet pushed through letterboxes in the Cumbria seat.

The future of maternity services at West Cumberland hospital is one of the hot topics of the election, and Labour is centering its campaign around the NHS as it seeks to defend its 2,564 majority. Quince’s baby son Robert was stillborn in 2014, and since entering Parliament a year later the Tory MP has focused on tackling the causes of baby loss and improving care for bereaved parents.

The MP even helped establish a cross-party group on baby loss in order to remove the issue from normal political posturing, but Labour’s campaign in Copeland has angered him.

Writing exclusively for the Huffington Post, Quince said: “In every political party there are, sadly, campaigns that are run which some find unpleasant or hard to stomach. I include various carried out by my own party in this list.

“However, the past week or so in Copeland has seen a Labour campaign that has made me angry and sad in equal measure.

“To see a mainstream political party - a party I respected - run a campaign quoting from unnamed midwifes saying ‘mothers will die, babies will die, babies will be brain damaged’ is simply disgusting.”

He added: “I have no issue whatsoever with political parties campaigning on the NHS.

“Further, I consider it entirely acceptable for the Labour party to campaign on maternity issues. In many respects I welcome it as we need to talk more openly about baby loss and the causes.

“However, my issue is how we as political parties frame and hold the debate; how we as mainstream political parties choose to campaign, the language we use, our tone and the messaging. To say that Labour has concerns about maternity safety is one thing.

“To put on a leaflet or a poster that ‘mothers will die, babies will die, babies will be brain damaged’ is another - it is scaremongering seeking nothing more than to stoke fear.

“In my view this kind of disgraceful campaigning has no place in mainstream politics. It sends out a dangerous message to the parents and families of the circa 5000 babies that are stillborn or die neo-natally annually in the UK that they are a political football.”

Read Will Quince’s full blog here

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour-copeland-baby-died-quince_uk_58aca9a5e4b06e5f777b8244?hckr0xl43e91wcdi&utm_hp_ref=uk