Marie Tidball MP: speeches

Speeches

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I will continue, if my hon. Friend does not mind. Clause 2(4) of the Bill before us today says: “For the avoidance of doubt, a person is not to be considered to be terminally ill only because they are a person with a disability or mental disorder (or both).” As a member of the previous Bill Committee, I worked for over 90 hours to ensure that all the changes that I requested were made, and they are now on the face of the Bill brought forward by my hon. Friend the Member for Rochester and Strood (Lauren Edwards). My amendments, including two new clauses, were unanimously supported by that Committee. The first, clause 48, establishes a disability advisory board made up of disabled people and our organisations in order to embed a long-term and iterative structure in law to report on the Bill’s implementation and its impact on disabled people. The second, clause 22, sets out provisions to put in place independent advocates for people with autism and mental health conditions, enabling them to effectively understand their options around end-of-life care. Further, I ensured that clause 8 provides for specific, up-to-date training for registered practitioners on reasonable adjustments and safeguards for autistic people and people with learning disabilities. I also secured an expanded duty in clause 28 to collect additional information about whether, immediately before death, the person seeking assistance has a disability—as defined under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010—other than a disability amounting to terminal illness, as defined in this Bill. Together, these measures create a solid foundation to enable disabled people to have a strong voice when advocating for themselves about their choices on end-of-life care and, importantly, to have a seat at the table so that they can scrutinise and monitor the implementation of this Bill. Spending nearly two years thinking about death in relation to this Bill has been life-changing for me, because the thing about considering choice in death, understanding what dignity in dying involves and what living a good death really means, is that it makes you think deeply about the meaning of living a good life, too: to love ferociously and to live passionately, experiencing every single moment as if suspended like a vignette woven from “Charlotte’s Web”. As E. B. White’s eponymous character points out: “After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die.” Each of these stages of human life requires us to treat ourselves and fellow humans with dignity and to value ourselves, to enable us to feel and to perceive our own worth. This Bill not only anchors that dignity at the final stage but, in doing so, compels us to embed dignity in each and every other stage of our lives as well. This Bill lays a counterweight alongside the Government’s plans to improve the quality of and access to palliative care, to drive urgent reform on social care, and to build a new system that gives people the dignity, security and support they deserve. Driving quality in these areas together can and must be done contemporaneously. My friend, the incredible assisted dying campaigner Nathaniel Dye, passed away this year. He squeezed every single drop of joy out of life and taught me so much about why living a good death matters. In setting the bar high for dignity in death, we set the bar even higher for dignity in life.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  This week, death has felt rather too close to home for me. My dad, John—my constituent, my great political hero and, indeed, my hero in life—had surgery for lung cancer, followed by a cardiac arrest the next day. Thanks to our wonderful NHS and its outstanding care, the CPR and treatment performed on him were successful. He is now in the process of recovery, to such an extent that I was able to have a detailed conversation with him at his bedside, in which he insisted that I come here to this place to speak and vote in this debate. My dad is determined to live. Nevertheless, he told me that if circumstances were different—if his condition was terminal, if he had six months left to live and if he had capacity to make that choice—he would want to have the option to choose an assisted death to give him dignity. Access to the choice of assisted dying, as tightly drawn in the Bill, enables the terminally ill adult who chooses it to live a good death. On Second Reading of the Bill previously brought forward by my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater), I said that my support was conditional on further safeguards being embedded in it, because too often control is taken away from disabled people.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 3 Sept 2026 · Family Hubs and Community Cohesion · Hansard source

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  Mr Speaker, it is good to see you after recess. Over the summer, I attended a packed meeting about saving St John’s church in Dodworth in my constituency, a grade 2 listed building that has been at the heart of my community for over 180 years and wants to serve that community by providing more services to children and young people and to older adults to prevent loneliness. However, it is currently temporarily closed and under threat of permanent closure due to urgent structural building work being needed. Those in our community want to save it, and I am working with them to reopen it and secure its long-term future to serve our community and our community groups, including by fundraising £250,000 and finding ways to meet the building’s ongoing costs. Can my hon. Friend advise me on how we can access funding and support from the Church of England and any other relevant funding pots for St John’s to ensure that this vital community space has a bright future.

• 3 Sept 2026 · Family Hubs and Community Cohesion · Hansard source

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  indicated assent .

• 16 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  As the summer holidays approach and with all the lovely sunny weather, I really hope that children across my constituency take the chance to spend plenty of time playing outside. I know how important it is for their wellbeing and it is a priority for a number of my “Pride In” events across my constituency, in particular to improve play parks in Dragon park in Wharncliffe Side, Mortomley park in High Green and Coronation field in Dodworth. I am thrilled that our Labour Government have already put £18 million into creating and refurbishing playgrounds across England. Will the Leader of the House advise me on how I can access that funding for local playgrounds to ensure that children and young people growing up in my constituency can have better places to play?

• 14 Jul 2026 · Health of Children and Young People · Hansard source

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  Yesterday I had the pleasure of welcoming the Barnsley-based charity LimbBo Foundation, along with the Limb Loss and Limb Difference UK alliance to Parliament to celebrate Disability Pride Month. The alliance launched its campaign to end the postcode lottery of services and support for people with limb loss and limb difference. While the NHS has a strong policy framework in place, including the 2025 prosthetic service specification, the key issue is not policy, but inconsistent delivery across the country. Will the Minister meet with me and the alliance to discuss how we can secure better access to mental health services, fair and consistent prosthetic provision and lifelong joined-up pathways for people with limb loss and limb difference?

• 9 Jul 2026 · Timms Review: Interim Report · Hansard source

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  I welcome the review and thank disabled people, who have shaped it. Last year, I was pleased that the Minister accepted my amendment to the Universal Credit Bill to ensure that co-production with disabled people was put at the heart of the Timms review before any future changes to PIP were brought forward. Today’s rich and important findings demonstrate why “nothing about us without us” is so crucial in shaping Government disability policy. How does the Minister plan to ensure that colleagues across his Department—as well as Alan Milburn and Sir Charlie Mayfield, who are reviewing ways to close the employment gap for disabled people and young people with mental health problems—learn from the Timms review and integrate the voices of disabled people? Will the Minister agree to come back to the House with the full findings of his report and to ensure that changes to PIP are joined up with the findings of the two other reviews, so that there is strategic coherence across Government policy on getting more disabled people into work?

• 9 Jul 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Today we are launching our petition to save Scout Dike activity centre in my constituency with fantastic local campaigners Darren Padgett and Nick Stubbs. We are campaigning against Barnsley council’s plans to sell off this valuable community asset for development. Scout Dike activity centre has served local people for generations and offers an incredible outdoor space—including a Quidditch pitch—for young people to gain life skills, confidence and access to wildlife in the heart of our beautiful South Yorkshire countryside. Selling it off snuffs out these opportunities forever. Will the Leader of the House advise me on how I can work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to reopen the centre to benefit the next generation of young people?

• 30 Jun 2026 · National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement and the work of Baroness Amos on this vital report. Disabled women are 44% more likely to suffer a stillbirth than non-disabled women. Drawing on the evidence session I chaired with our MaternAble campaign of disabled mothers, Baroness Amos’s report highlights the devastating discrimination and structural barriers that are causing such inequalities for disabled women, from devastating assumptions that we are not sexually active or capable of parenting to the lack of accessible maternity spaces and medical equipment, as well as insufficient access to British Sign Language interpreters. It sets out the appalling lack of co-ordination and continuity of care across maternity pathways and services for disabled mothers. Will the Secretary of State meet me to ensure that disabled women’s voices are central to the Government’s taskforce and in implementing the report’s recommendations to overcome the inequalities we face in our maternity care?

• 8 Jun 2026 · Progression of Bills through Parliament · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater), who introduced the assisted dying Bill as a private Member’s Bill, cannot be with us today. Does my hon. Friend agree that the filibustering in the Lords and the inability of the Lords to deal with the assisted dying Bill within reasonable time fetters us as Back Benchers, and has a chilling effect on introducing a range of issues of conscience as private Members’ Bills?

• 14 May 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I recently held an event in High Green to listen to local people’s priorities for the area, because they have felt overlooked for far too long. Two of the areas in High Green have a bottom 3% and 7% score of deprivation in England. I want to change that so that High Green can receive £20 million of funding from the Government’s Pride in Place programme. I am ambitious for High Green, the home of the Arctic Monkeys, and I know that this investment will fulfil the potential of the talent and community spirit in that place. Will the Leader of the House advise me how I can work with Ministers to secure Pride in Place funding for High Green to breathe new life into our community and ensure that everyone locally can stay near but go far.

• 25 Mar 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q5. May I thank the Prime Minister for the £35 million of funding, announced this week, to transform the Crucible theatre and keep the world— [ Interruption. ]

• 25 Mar 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker. May I thank the Prime Minister for the £35 million of funding to transform the Crucible theatre and keep the world snooker championship at the heart of Sheffield? I want my constituents to be able to enjoy this fantastic tournament, day and night, and to travel in by tram-train from Stocksbridge to Sheffield via Oughtibridge, Wharncliffe Side and Deepcar. I am grateful to our South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, for kick-starting these plans. Will the Prime Minister work with me and the South Yorkshire Mayor to ensure that we get spades in the ground for a tram-train extension to Stocksbridge as soon as possible, so that my constituents can enjoy the snooker?

• 18 Mar 2026 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q3. My constituent Caroline from Grenoside told me that since December the cost of her heating oil has nearly tripled, from £257 to £700. Local farmers I met last week also raised their concerns that the oil industry has not been properly regulated, disadvantaging off-grid customers. While I welcome the Government’s £53 million support package for rural communities, will the Prime Minister confirm how disabled people, vulnerable people and low-income households can access this support, and how he will improve regulation of oil to bring down the cost of energy bills?

• 12 Mar 2026 · International Women’s Day · Hansard source

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  I thank all the women in this Chamber who really have slayed in their lane in today’s debate. Madam Deputy Speaker: “When they amputated my leg, they amputated a part of me. I see my body and I feel disgust, repulsion. I fear that my amputation took away my femininity, my ability to be yearned for; my womanhood pauperised. Trapped in a body that does not reflect my mind or my self.” “Anorexia, unplanned, like an addiction, crept upon me. I ate less and became thinner. My wish: that nobody would notice my disability and I would simply disappear—a physical escapism. For the first time in my life, the eating disorder gave me control over my body; the way it looked, the way it felt. My frustration about my physical form turned into obsession; the obsession fed me where food did not: it gave me power.” “Success became feeling bones left behind under taught skin; in knowing my pelvis protruded below a small waist, cheek bones were prominent on a smile-less face.” “Anorexia was about the relationship between a despised body and a disciplined mind. Eventually, the mind was consumed too: a warped wasteland where fear and anger roamed. There was no escape from or for my self.” “Weight: 4 stone 10 lbs. My body was breaking down, I was losing my hair, and my periods stopped. My menstruation ending ultimately saved me and my life. Somewhere, at the back of my head, I knew I wanted to have children. Eventually, I took the pill, my periods started again, I ate more. My desire to be a mother gave me a reason to get better, signalled a future and made me know choice once again.” I wrote those passages 20 years ago, in my early 20s, while recovering from my last major surgery to my legs. I was anorexic for four years from age 14, and although I was physically better by the time I went to university, it took me until my mid-20s to have a healthy relationship with food. I am not alone. Over the years, I have spoken to other disabled women about their experiences of eating disorders linked to their own body image and identity. Devastatingly, 20 years later—two decades after I wrote those passages— social attitudes towards sex, relationships and disability remain an enormous taboo, which means that disabled women are still going through that anguish, damaging their mental health, causing them to self-harm and eroding their self-esteem. Actor and disability activist Melissa Johns, who has an upper-body limb difference, has shared her story. She said: “I have a strong history of loathing my body. That never came from me—it came from society telling me that my body was wrong.” Too often, disabled women’s bodies do not count. Mum, social media influencer and wheelchair user Sophie Bradbury-Cox showed me just some comments made on her social media about the fact that she is a disabled mother. They included: “There’s something horribly unethical about having children when you’re not able to care for yourself.” Those damaging attitudes and a lack of awareness of the issues are leading disabled women to face barriers in public services, including accessing sexual, reproductive and maternity care. In the last year, I have met two incredible disabled women: Carly, a Paralympian, and Sarah, an occupational therapist. Both have cerebral palsy and neither found out about their pregnancies until their second and third trimesters, respectively, because none of their clinicians considered that they might be pregnant. Carly Tait, who competed in the 2016 Paralympic games in Rio de Janeiro, soon discovered she was pregnant after retiring from professional sport. That was immediately followed by a lot of questions about whether she was capable of giving birth, in a line of conversation that she faced throughout her pregnancy. Some people seemed to ignore Carly’s pregnancy altogether. On the last day before her maternity leave, a colleague approached her and said “Oh my gosh! Are you pregnant?”, showing an ableist view that someone like Carly could not possibly be pregnant. But disabled women are making babies, having babies and being brilliant mothers against the odds—odds that mean we face a 44% higher likelihood of stillbirth. That is why I have called on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to put inclusive maternity care for disabled women at the heart of our women’s health strategy, so that our womanhood no longer remains invisible. But we need to go further. We need to finally embed the social model of disability into women’s healthcare, and implement the recommendations for the UK Government made by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2017. That committee found that the rights of disabled women and girls have not been systematically mainstreamed into either the gender equality or disability agendas, with disabled women facing multiple barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services and professionals. I have lost count of the number of disabled people I have ended up mentoring who have self-harmed and attempted suicide because of sex, relationship and disability issues not being discussed, the lack of services and the absence of professional expertise to support them. I am proud that our Government’s reforms will engender a high-quality and inclusive curriculum for all, but that must include the representation of disabled people in personal, social, health and economic education lessons at school. We must turn the tide of public attitudes towards disabled people, and particularly empower young disabled people to have more positive perceptions of self. There are reasons to be hopeful. Green shoots of representation are appearing on our screens. “EastEnders” is currently covering a storyline about a pregnant woman who is a wheelchair user. This season of “Bridgerton” featured a subplot with Hazel, a maid played by Gracie McGonigal, and her love interest with dashing footman, John, without ever mentioning Hazel’s limb difference. Instagram has become a burgeoning social media platform for brilliant disabled women who are super-charging the representation of disability and desire, and of being proud and empowered about the intrinsic beauty of our bodies and our selves. They are boldly forging the conversation about us being loved and in love. They are powering the narrative on disability and dating, elucidating new language about being in inter-abled couples, and navigating difficult conversations and acceptance. It is disability cast no longer as absence but as complete, full-bodied presence. To be loved is to be seen. It is high time our society saw disabled women’s whole selves, for only then will we create a society that treats disabled women with the dignity and respect we deserve.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. and learned Member agree that, in fact, we are getting rid of them in only a quarter of 3% of cases that go through the court process?

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  I do indeed. In combination with the provisions in the Bill to effect structural reform, to stop criminals from gaming the system and to triage trials effectively, such measures will embed a child-centred and victim-centred approach in the courts.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Lady recognise that in 2020 the harm panel said that that section creates a “pro-contact culture” that puts children at risk, and that post the publication of that review, it received no response from her Government?

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  I do indeed agree with my hon. Friend. When Jack and Paul died, Claire promised them that no more children should lose their lives like they did, at the hands of an abusive parent. When I first met Claire, I told her that if I was elected, I would do all I could to help her. That was in 2023. On the 11th anniversary of the boys’ death, in October last year, I took Claire to No. 10 Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister—the first Prime Minister to personally commit to fulfil Claire’s promise to her beautiful boys. I ask this House to vote for the Bill today, so that we can collectively fulfil Claire’s promise to her sons Jack and Paul; so that children like Jack and Paul are listened to, not ignored; and so that no more towns like mine are left to grieve. I urge this House to make that world a reality and support the Bill.

• 10 Mar 2026 · Courts and Tribunals Bill · Hansard source

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  I rise to support this Bill, particularly clause 17— Jack and Paul’s law—to finally repeal the presumption of contact in the family courts. It is the result of 11 years of campaigning by my incredible constituent Claire Throssell MBE, who is in the Gallery today, following the tragic deaths of her beautiful sons, Jack and Paul. They were killed in a house fire by their father, a known domestic abuser. Their dad lured Jack and his nine-year-old brother Paul into the attic with the promise of a train set, but he started 14 fires around their family home, killing himself in the blaze. Jack and Paul’s deaths happened during a two-hour, court-ordered, unsupervised contact visit permitted by a family court and allowed to go ahead by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service. The state failed Jack and Paul; it failed to put their wellbeing first, after a decade of their father’s abuse, neglect and coercive control of them and their mother. This House must act today and vote through this Bill to save the lives of a future generation of children by ending contact at any cost. The presumption of parental involvement is a legal principle in the Children Act 1989 that means that any parent, even those who are known domestic abusers, should always be given contact with their children, but the retention of presumption continues to be fatal. Some 68 children—that we know of—have died at the hands of known domestically abusive parents since Women’s Aid started research on this issue. This Bill presents a life-changing opportunity to prevent such deaths and puts children’s wellbeing at the heart of our family courts.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Disabled Women: Maternity Care · Hansard source

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  Too often, disabled women’s bodies are deemed not to count. In the last year, I have met two incredible disabled women: Carly, a Paralympian, and Sarah, an occupational therapist. Neither found out that they were pregnant until their second and third trimesters respectively because none of their clinicians considered that they might be pregnant. But we are making babies, we are having babies—against the odds; we have a 44% higher likelihood of stillbirth—and we are being brilliant mothers. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss ensuring that inclusive maternity care for disabled women is at the heart of our women’s health strategy so that our womanhood is no longer invisible?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Disabled Women: Maternity Care · Hansard source

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  14. What steps his Department has taken to improve maternity care for disabled women.

• 12 Feb 2026 · Bus Fare Cap · Hansard source

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  On the doorstep, at my constituency meeting last November, and when I am out and about in Stocksbridge, Deepcar, Oughtibridge and Wharncliffe Side, time and again my constituents tell me about the urgent need to bring back the SL1 tram-train bus link, after it was cut under the Tory Government. This route must be the cornerstone of the fantastic work that our South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard is doing to bring our buses back under public control. Will the Minister work with me, South Yorkshire mayoral combined authority and Sheffield city council to reinstate and improve a tram link bus, like the SL1, as soon as possible, and to identify funding for delivering a pilot project as soon as possible?

• 5 Feb 2026 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  I held a meeting for my constituents in Silkstone and Silkstone Common last week, and they raised with me the lack of NHS dentistry spaces locally. Some are having to travel 20 miles, taking up to an hour and a half, to get to an NHS dentist appointment. This issue affects people right across my constituency, with many being forced to go private, pay additional transport costs or go without an appointment until they need urgent hospital treatment—all pushing up their cost of living. Will the Leader of the House advise me how I can work with Health Ministers to ensure that my constituents can access NHS dentist appointments in their communities, particularly in rural areas?