It’s easy for MPs to miss the humiliating treatment of their own constituents

If you wanted an easy illustration of the importance of a Parliament that looks vaguely like the country it works for, look no further than a tiny consultation issued this week by the Home Office. In it, ministers suggest new guidelines on the treatment of women in custody who are on their periods.

This sounds like quite small fry – and the sort of subject that makes at least 50 per cent of readers recoil from going any further. But it’s important, not just in itself, but also because it shows what happens when more women join the House of Commons.

For years, female detainees who are awaiting a court verdict on the crime they are accused of have either been given absolutely no sanitary protection at all, or the sort of thin, inadequate stuff that would be suitable only for a pubescent girl just starting to menstruate.