Marra was born on 6 November 1977 in Dundee to Eileen Margaret and Nicholas James Marra. She attended St John's High School in Dundee before going on to study history at the University of St Andrews, graduating in 1999 with an MA in modern history.[1]
Marra argued that the Labour Party should attempt to block Brexit in the House of Commons.[8]
In November 2019, it was announced that Marra and Scottish National Party MSP Joan McAlpine would be hosting an event on behalf of the "Women's Human Rights Campaign", an international campaign that launched in New York in March 2019. The campaign's self-declared focus is on "the importance of keeping the current sex based definition of woman". The announcement was met with criticism from some feminist and LGBT groups, including Engender, The Equality Network and the Scottish Trans Alliance, who expressed their concerns that the Campaign's aims would breach Human Rights law, and in particular the rights of transgender people. However, a spokeswoman for the Campaign reiterated that their aim was to "re-affirm women’s sex-based rights, as set out in international human rights documents".[9]
In September 2020, Marra became the first Labour MSP to call for Richard Leonard to quit as Scottish Labour leader. She said "If we do not change course now we risk catastrophe. The reality is that you only have a short window in political leadership to make an impression on the public. After three years the party’s standing is getting worse rather than better. No one can say that Richard has not had opportunities to turn the situation around. Richard’s leadership was tied from the start to the disaster of Jeremy Corbyn's project. It remains so in the public's view and they simply will not give the party a hearing as things stand."[10]
On 28 November 2020, Marra announced that she would not stand in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, stating "I have decided that my role as an MSP takes me away from my young children during the week in Edinburgh but also at evening meetings and weekend commitments".[11]