Scottish Secretary Ian Murray to become first Cabinet minister to take full paternity leave

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Ian Murray will become the first cabinet minister to take full paternity leave in the coming weeks.Labour's Scottish Secretary is expecting his second child with his wife at the end of January and will take two weeks of paternity leave.The Edinburgh South MP said his leave had been personally signed off by Keir Starmer because he is "enthusiastic" about balancing work as a government minister and family life.Murray told the Record: "I think I am the first Cabinet minister to take formal paternity leave for the whole two weeks."The Prime Minister has personally signed this off because he is enthusiastic about making sure that the balance between the heavy duties of government, being an MP, travelling and all of those issues.

The burden of that falls heavily on family."He's always talked about him trying to make sure that he cuts out a bit of his week on a Friday to be with family."The department has been hugely supportive.

I'm looking forward to it. Because responsibility lies mostly on family when you do these jobs, it's quite good to spend some time away from the place really."Junior Scotland Office minister Kirsty McNeill will step up to take over departmental issues.

She will be assisted by parliamentary private secretary Mel Ward and Scottish whip Martin McClusky.Murray said that the only reason he would cut the leave short "is if there was some sort of national security issue to be dealt with."The right to two weeks paid paternity leave was introduced by the last Labour Government in 2003.