MP talks of heartbreak of alcohol killing mother

Sara Britcliffe (Image: DAVID WOOLFALL) The youngest Conservative MP to win a seat at the last election has described the heartbreak of losing her mother to alcoholism. Sara Britcliffe was just nine when her mum died in 2004. She entered Westminster at the age of 24 in 2019 and is speaking up for better support for alcoholics and their families. Ms Britcliffe, now 28, spoke with love for her late mother, Gabrielle, and admitted she still struggles. She said: ‘She was the best woman that you could ever meet, and she loved me so much.’ The Hyndburn MP remembers how she had to be rescued by the fire service after Gabrielle had locked her in the house and gone out drinking.  ‘I was probably four or five years old at that point,’ she said. ‘So that’s when people realised there was a problem, a huge problem.’ On another occasion she was stranded at an airport after her mum was arrested. ‘She’d had a drink in the airport and we were going to Germany to see my family. And she got on the plane and was arrested for being drunk and disorderly.” ‘I remember being sat in the police station in Manchester Airport waiting for my dad to pick me up.’ Her traumatic experiences have given her unique insights into how the children of alcoholics need support. As a child, she believed she was key to her mum’s survival. She told GB News’s Gloria De Piero: ‘She just loved me. And anybody that you met would tell you she adored me.” ‘That was one of the problems because everybody would always say to me the only way she would stop drinking is because of me.’ Ms Britcliffe added: ‘I still struggle. The worst bit for me is I’m starting to forget her voice.” ‘But mentally, I’m in a really good position.’