NORTH Ayrshire and Arran MP Patricia Gibson says she is delighted that Baby Loss Awareness Week is now firmly on the political agenda.

The MP, who lost a child to stillbirth a few years ago, spoke after a week of deeply moving events in Westminster marked the special week.

And she was pleased to see support for the initiative across the political spectrum.

The MP also vowed to continue the battle to see the number of stillbirths in the UK fall.

She told the Herald: “Last week for the very first time baby loss was debated on the floor of the Commons, following my Westminster Hall debate on stillbirth in June earlier this year.

“With a memorial service also held for all lost babies, it is clear that this issue is now firmly on the political agenda and there it must stay.

“For too long, too many parents who had suffered a stillbirth, suffered in silence.

“This really is the last taboo and the time to break the silence around this heart breaking phenomenon has finally come.

“There are 3,500 stillbirths across the UK each year with one in three of these occurring at full term, and 3,000 more babies dying shortly after birth.

“Now this has been is put firmly on the political agenda with cross-party support, unless we address the issue directly, these figures will not improve significantly.

“Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day falls on October 15 each year – the day on which my own son was stillborn in 2009 - when there is an International Wave of Light where candles are lit at 7pm for an hour across the globe to remember all lost babies.

“This is set to become a firm fixture on the UK calendar, given the commitment shown this week in the Commons, to make it so.”