Dr Marie Tidball
MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge · Labour · United Kingdom
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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?”
“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.”
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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?”
“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?”
“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?”
“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?”
“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 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?”
“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.”
“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?”
“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.”
“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. ]”
“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?”
“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?”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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?”
“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?”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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?”
“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?”
“I welcome the commitment to extend the farming in protected landscapes funding, which is worth £75,000 to farms in my constituency. Last summer, I had the pleasure of visiting Snailsden moor with Jim Sutton, the moorland manager, and representatives from the Peak district national park, the Moorland Association and Natural England. They raised the high risk of wildfires in local uplands, as a result of large-scale dry spells, that can cause poor air quality and damage to nearby farms. The risk is exacerbated by a lack of a cohesive fire plan and firefighting infrastructure, including water storage. Will the Minister meet me, along with her colleagues from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, to develop a cross-Government wildfire management strategy to protect against upland moorland wildfires?”
“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?”
“Q5. I am delighted by today’s Northern Powerhouse Rail announcement—a downpayment on the north of England’s future. Fulfilling Lord Blunkett’s rail plan for Yorkshire also included upgrades to the Penistone line train, the spine that connects South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, coursing through eight constituencies and serving half a million people. When I was growing up, my dad opened Silkstone Common station as a Dodworth councillor. I want my legacy to be “Two trains an hour Tidball” for our Penistone line. Will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss how we can secure funding for the second phase of the Penistone line upgrade scheme to achieve two services an hour?”
“I welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement confirming the biggest investment in rail connectivity in a generation, including £7.5 million for the South Yorkshire mayoral combined authority to kick-start plans to extend the South Yorkshire Supertram, including looking at a tram-train extension to Stocksbridge via Oughtibridge, Wharncliffe Side and Deepcar in my constituency. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this tram-train extension will build on the Government’s commitment today to finally give Yorkshire the transport network our communities deserve?”
“It is crucial that the second stage is covered in the next spending review to ensure that my constituents in Dodworth, Silkstone Common, Penistone, Chapeltown and all the places in between can get to college, university, hospital and employment. My constituency helped to build the prosperity of this great nation, and it needs this line’s second upgrade to ensure that it is once more the beating heart of rail.”
“This Labour Government’s Bill—along with the work of our Labour mayor, Oliver Coppard, and local councils —provides the opportunity to restore the transport network, so that it is once again the envy of the world, including by delivering phases 1 and 2 of the Penistone line upgrades. Our Labour Government have already begun to power that change with our £48 million investment in phase 1, and phase 2 is much needed. We must go further and fulfil the recommendation of Lord Blunkett’s Yorkshire plan for rail, which includes delivering two trains an hour. South and west Yorkshire deserve better than the once-an-hour service we currently have on this line.”
“On the day that the previous Conservative Government announced that the money for Network North was going to be spent on potholes in London, three out of the six Penistone line services were cancelled. What about Reform? The Reform Members have not even bothered to turn up to this debate. They do not care about rail, but this Government do. I am thoroughly delighted to support this Bill to take back control through Great British Railways, to deliver improvements for customers, and to take long-term decisions in the national interest. Those at the Penistone Line Partnership are brilliant advocates for our local line, and their voices will be strengthened by the Bill’s introduction of a new passenger watchdog, which will set tough standards.”
“One of the most special moments of my first year as an MP was singing ABBA on the Penistone line train with the wonderful We Can Survive Singers, while travelling through my beautiful constituency. This line is the spine connecting south and west Yorkshire, running between Huddersfield and Sheffield. It courses through eight constituencies, serves over half a million people, and connects six hospitals, four universities, several further education colleges, and hundreds of schools and GP surgeries. It laces together communities with rich histories, vibrant high streets and industry with huge potential. When I was growing up, our south Yorkshire transport system was the envy of the world, but 14 years of the Conservatives’ broken promises resulted in an unacceptable north-south transport divide.”
“Over 23% of children in my Penistone and Stocksbridge constituency are living in poverty. This is unacceptable. We know that children growing up in poverty are less likely to be in work and will earn 25% less than their peers by the time they are 30. Scrapping the evil two-child benefit cap will benefit 1,140 children in my constituency. Contrary to what the shadow Secretary of State says, this is an investment in their future. Given that it is the moral mission of this Government to break the devastating cycle of child poverty, will the Secretary of State work with me to look at opportunities for a family hub in Chapeltown in my constituency that will also serve Burncross and Ecclesfield?”
“3. What steps he is taking with his counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive to help increase the number of film and television productions made in Northern Ireland.”
“UK Disability History Month begins tomorrow and I am delighted that the Creative Diversity Network now reports the doubling of the representation of disabled people on and off screen since 2018 to 9% across the UK. One such example is the phenomenal BBC film “An Irish Goodbye”, which stars Down’s syndrome ambassador James Martin and was filmed in Northern Ireland. What is the Minister doing to ensure a further drive to again double the presence of disability on and off screen?”
“As the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 has now become law, will the Leader of the House tell me how I can secure a meeting with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss how he can further empower Sheffield city council to hold contractors to account under the new decent homes standard in that Act, to enable the works to finally be completed to a high standard for my constituents in High Green?”
“Two families in High Green in my constituency have now waited two years for a scheme of works to their social houses, which was originally estimated to take just 12 weeks. This is completely unacceptable. I visited them last week and saw that the work that has been completed is substandard, creating damp and mould issues and causing damage to property and personal possessions. This has left families with a horrific impact on their wellbeing and mental health.”
“The Bill contains criminal sanctions for the most significant breaches, including for misleading the public in a way that is seriously improper, under the new offence it creates.”
“I am proud to be stood here in this moment as a Sheffield Labour MP and as part of the Labour Government who are introducing the Hillsborough law to this House. I am proud, too, that we have a Prime Minister who has made making this law his personal mission. This landmark legislation will help to close this chapter of some of our nation’s darkest days. The Bill before us will be transformative. As someone who followed closely the evisceration of legal aid—and, with it, access to justice—under the Conservative Government in coalition, I am immensely proud that the Bill includes the largest expansion of legal aid in a decade for bereaved families, providing non-means-tested help and support for inquests.”
“I was nearly five years old when the Hillsborough disaster happened, less than half a mile away from my Penistone and Stocksbridge constituency. My mum had just had my baby brother and was on maternity leave, and I vividly remember watching the coverage of the horrendous tragedy, transfixed by the screen. Meynell, the school where my mum worked at the edge of the Parson Cross estate, was near the ground. Seeing the horror of her realisation that some of her families might have been at the match was deeply upsetting. The images of the treatment of the fans by the police are etched on my memory forever. My baby brother is now a grown 36-year-old man: the measure of the lifetime it has taken to get the justice for the 97 fans who lost their lives at the Hillsborough disaster. Today really is a historic day.”
“The changes that the Bill makes will ensure that truth and justice are never concealed again and that brave families will never again be left fighting endlessly for the truth. Anyone caught trying to hide the truth will face the full force of the law. To Margaret Aspinall, the brave bereaved families and the hundreds of campaigners who brought us to this moment, thank you for the decades of work you have done. We all owe you a debt of gratitude. With my whole heart, I commend this Bill to the House.”
“I do agree. Alongside the public sector equality duty in the Equality Act 2010 passed by the last Labour Government, we will have created a shield and a sword for those disabled people. Trust in public life is a delicate and precious thing, and the duty of candour on all public services within this Bill provides the scaffolding for this to be held up. Public servants must always tell the truth about anything to do with their jobs or face the consequences. In requiring that they do so, the Bill will lay strong foundations to build cultural change throughout the public sector, placing public bodies under a new duty to promote the ethical conduct of their staff. This law is for the 97 who lost their lives, but it is also for all those who fought for justice when they had been betrayed by the authorities that were meant to protect them.”
“Expediting the repeal of the provision in the statute book will ensure that no more towns like mine will grieve, and it will ensure that Jack and Paul’s law is at the heart of our family justice system, where it belongs. I commend the Bill to the House.”
“Those women include the Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services, the Minister for Victims, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, and my hon. Friends the Members for Lowestoft (Jess Asato), for Milton Keynes Central (Emily Darlington) and for Bolton North East (Kirith Entwistle). I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Josh Fenton-Glynn) for his work and allyship. Repealing the presumption of contact is urgent. Will the Minister confirm that it will be repealed as soon as the parliamentary time allows, thereby fulfilling the promise that the Prime Minister made to Claire Throssell last week?”
“The reforms will ensure that decisions about child arrangements put the child at the centre of decision making and are based on a robust assessment of the potential risks, particularly when domestic abuse is present. Our message is clear: the safety of children is paramount. We will stop at nothing to make sure that they are protected in our courts, prioritising children’s safety and wellbeing and their right to grow up free from harm. The changes will reinforce new clause 14 and the exceptional work set out in the Bill by putting children at the centre of the family courts. I am proud that our Labour Government is packed full of brilliant women who stood behind Claire Throssell, Natalie Fleet and I to ensure that our Government fulfil her promise to her boys.”