MPs were moved to tears today by colleague Sharon Hodgson recalling how her stillborn baby “officially did not exist” even though she had known that the little girl’s heart was beating throughout most of the birth.

Ms Hodgson’s voice faltered and she had to pause several times as she described the traumatic birth of her third child Lucy.

Her fellow Labour MPs could also be seen dabbing their eyes when she said that Lucy, who would have been 20 this year, had no birth or death certificate after she was stillborn at 23-and-a-half weeks.