Laura Kyrke-Smith says perinatal mental health care in England is ‘postcode lottery’, with disadvantaged women more likely to miss out

A new Labour MP will address parliament on Wednesday to tell the story of a friend who killed herself just 10 weeks after giving birth, in a call for more specific mental health support to be embedded in maternity services.

Laura Kyrke-Smith, the MP for Aylesbury, told the Guardian she was determined to use her time in parliament to push for change in memory of her friend Sophie, a mother of three young girls, who died when her youngest was just over two months old.