MPs with disabilities have spoken about the challenges they face working in parliament, criticising the “insane” lack of provisions and arcane, time-consuming procedures.
Lucy Powell, the Commons leader, who also chairs its modernisation committee, said she would be “very in favour of” bringing in call lists for when MPs will speak, one of the adjustments called for by MPs in the committee. Such lists are used for ministerial questions but not for debates, beyond a period during Covid.
Powell was speaking after the committee heard evidence from a series of current and former MPs with disabilities about the difficulties of working in the parliamentary estate. Marie Tidball, a Labour MP elected in 2024, said she had been given an accessible office and that staff and party whips had been very helpful but said the method of speaking in Commons debates was very hard for her. This, she added, severely marred her maiden speech.
“Despite having told the speaker and various people that, I still had to wait for four hours to be called to do my maiden speech,” she said. “By the end of it I was just feeling exhausted. I didn’t know when I could get up and use the bathroom or go and have something to drink or to eat so I could get my energy levels up again.
“I couldn’t enjoy it, because I was just so tired. There was no need for that to happen.”
Sarah Bool, a 2024 intake Conservative who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an adult, said her fluctuating blood sugar levels made a recent five-hour wait to speak in a debate very gruelling, particularly given the convention that MPs wishing to speak must “bob”, standing up briefly after every speech to show the speaker they are still keen.
Robert Halfon, a former Conservative MP who has mild cerebral palsy, told the committee about using a four-wheel Segway motorised transporter to be able to get around the estate. During a discussion about accessible voting, such as using mobile phones to vote during Covid, he recalled during the Brexit debates having to use his Segway to go the voting lobby “14, 15, 16, 17 times … it’s an insane system”.
Marsha de Cordova, a Labour MP who has the sight condition nystagmus and is registered blind, said she found getting around the parliamentary estate very challenging given poor lighting, the use of glass doors and a lack of clear marking on most steps.
She said it was impossible for her to use glass revolving doors at the entrance to the estate: “So I always have to ask somebody to open the door for me. Just getting into the building is a challenge. I can’t just walk in myself. I have to get somebody to open a door for me.”
When she first became an MP in 2017, De Cordova said, she was told that the best way to be able to speak in the Commons would be to “catch the speaker’s eye”, something she had to point out was impossible.
Steve Darling, a Liberal Democrat MP who is also registered blind and has a guide dog, said that while Commons staff were generally helpful, he worried about the lack of accessibility in the building, particularly for staff who did not have the privileges of MPs.
Tidball, who is liaising with other MPs with disabilities to seek change, said call lists would be a good start in being more inclusive.
She said: “I would want this committee to hear loudly: as disabled members we want to participate in the chamber, but to expect us to only get to speak if you’re prepared to sit in a chamber for up to six hours is not an accessible and inclusive parliament.”
