Lewisham Deptford MP Vicky Foxcroft brought colleagues to tears as she gave an emotionally charged speech in Parliament about the death of her baby.

Ms Foxcroft shared her heart-breaking experience during a debate to mark baby loss week.

The Labour MP said it was the "hardest speech I have ever had to write or deliver" and had been unsure about whether to raise such a personal matter as she spoke publicly for the first time about the death of her five-day-old daughter Veronica.

She paused to take deep breaths while telling the Commons about her experiences as a teenager.

After apologising to her friends for not speaking about it with them over the years, Ms Foxcroft said of Veronica: "I still love her. She is always in my thoughts. All these years afterwards. Even if I don't talk about her all the time.

"I don't not talk about her because I'm embarrassed. I'm not. It's because it hurts so much to do so.

"I don't have children now because I lived with the fear of the same thing happening and I just couldn't do it twice."

Ms Foxcroft's courage was praised as she sought to break the taboos surrounding baby deaths.

Shadow health minister Justin Madders said: "She showed incredible courage to tell us about her daughter Veronica and we could all feel the pain that she must have felt every day for the last 23 years when she spoke about her.

"I think we all admire the bravery she showed in talking about this today.

"I'm sure Veronica would be as proud of her mum as we all are today."

Opening the debate, Conservative Antoinette Sandbach warned ministers that baby loss is an "injustice" suffered by far too many UK families as MPs called for a major campaign to raise awareness.

Ms Sandbach, who lost her five-day-old son Sam in 2009, labelled miscarriages a "silent killer" and cautioned that too little support was offered to the estimated 200,000 mothers and their families affected each year.

Health minister Philip Dunne said he had been humbled by the debate, during which there was "barely a dry eye in the House".

He said: "It's undoubtedly the most moving debate I have participated in, in the 11 and a half years I have been in this House.”