'Being a disabled child gave me the northern grit I need as an MP'

As one of a small number of disabled MPs, Marie Tidball says she feels the "weight of responsibility" of the 17 million people in the UK living with a disability on her shoulders.

Labour's Penistone and Stocksbridge representative says that while she may not have a choice about her condition, she can choose what she does with her life and is determined to have a positive impact.

Now 41,Tidball was born with a congenital disability affecting all four limbs.

As a baby she spent months in hospital undergoing operations, including having her right foot amputated when she was just 11 months old, and went on to miss three years of school, which she says affected her "phenomenally".

But the Barnsley-born MP said the experience had shaped the person she is today.

"I have a huge amount of what you might call northern grit," she said. "I won't take no for an answer.

"I spent weeks in body plaster, from the top of my chest to my ankles, literally mummified alive, recovering from surgery.

"You have to have a huge amount of mental determination just to get through every day."

Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield, she said: "You're uncomfortable. You can't run around, you can't play like other kids and you spend a lot of time thinking and really wanting to make the most of your life, but also seeing the injustices in life."

Tidball has foreshortened arms and legs, with only one digit on each hand, but says the cause of her condition is "still a bit of a mystery".

She said her mother had had a scan while pregnant, but at the time imaging techniques were not precise enough to show any disabilities.

"They didn't know what caused it. It might be there was some chromosomal issue that was never discovered. It might be my mum had some kind of illness in pregnancy, like rubella, that she didn't realise, and it affected the way that my limbs grew."

She said it upset her when people asked if it was due to thalidomide, a drug sold in the 1950s as a cure for morning sickness but which caused thousands of babies worldwide to be born with a range of disabilities.

"It certainly wasn't thalidomide and sometimes as a kid I used to get quite upset if people would say it was," Tidball said.

"My mum didn't take that drug and I was 25 years too young for that.

"It is a bit of a mystery and it has taken quite a lot to to be in a position where I am okay not knowing what's caused it.

"My parents have been phenomenal in helping me deal with my disability and I might not have a choice about having this disability, but I've certainly got a choice about what I do in my life, how I respond to it and turn it into a positive."

She said when she was younger she had hoped to become a surgeon, but it was the one thing her dad said she would struggle with.

"I had a phenomenal orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Bell, at Sheffield Children's Hospital, and he enabled me to walk because of the genius of the surgeries that he did.

"I did at one stage want to be a surgeon, but in those days it was seen to be more of a man's job because it was physically very demanding."

Instead, Tidball studied law at Oxford, completed a PhD and entered politics.

Elected in 2024, she said she was the first MP in 100 years to have grown up in and around Penistone and Stocksbridge to go on to represent the constituency.

"I'm very proud to have grown up here," she said.

"In my maiden speech in Parliament, I was able to talk about the school support staff - the dinner ladies and the teaching assistants – who helped me settle back into school after I had missed months and months.

"When I am in Parliament, I very much feel the weight of responsibility of 17m disabled people behind m.

"And, as one of the few visibly physically disabled members of Parliament, I want to make sure I play a part in making a country that treats disabled people with dignity and respect."

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