(1 day, 8 hours ago)
Westminster HallRead Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered the safety of emergency workers.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg.
Our emergency workers run towards danger when the rest of us would instinctively run away. When someone is injured, trapped at sea, frightened or in grave danger, our emergency workers do not ask first who the person is, where they come from or what their political views are; they simply act. They do it because it is their duty, and because they care. In the case of organisations such as the RNLI and the coastguard, they volunteer their own time to save complete strangers. The very least they should expect in return is to do their job without being assaulted, threatened or intimidated.
Because of the nature of their roles, however, emergency workers often do not have a voice. They are expected to get on with their job and absorb the abuse. I wanted to hold this debate to give them a voice and secure action to protect them. Sadly, recent events in and around Portsmouth have shown that that cannot be taken for granted. On 6 September, protesters gathered at Eastney pier in an attempt to prevent migrants rescued from a small boat being taken out of the area. Further protests followed in neighbouring Gosport on 22 September and 4 October. There have been convictions for violent offences connected to those protests, and other cases remain before the courts—I will not comment on those proceedings.
The cases that have concluded give the House a very disturbing indication of what emergency workers faced. On 22 September, Shannon Dodds concealed her identity with a mask and sunglasses before spraying a noxious substance into the face of two police constables. Sally Pearson punched an officer, causing a suspected ligament injury that has left him unable to work for three weeks, and she then directed racial abuse at another officer. Behind those assaults are real people—officers who went home injured, families worried about their loved ones and colleagues left to pick up the pieces.
It was not just the police. I have spoken to emergency services representatives who were on the frontline. Ambulance crews trying to reach people in need of medical assistance were abused. Protesters rocked their vehicles, banging on the sides, and pushed phones aggressively into the workers’ faces, filming them and sharing the images online. The coastguard vehicle had every tyre slashed, police vehicles were damaged, and emergency workers and volunteers were followed, filmed and intimidated. Their message to me was simple: “This is not what we signed up for.”
Videos from the Eastney disorder showed protesters shouting, “Effing traitors,” and, “I hope you effing lot sink,” at the RNLI boats. Those words were directed at people whose only purpose is to save lives. The intimidation extends beyond the protests: I have heard reports of RNLI crew members’ children being harassed, and volunteers and staff being advised not to wear service-branded clothing in public for fear of abuse. What does it say about us if lifeboat volunteers cannot safely wear the badge of an organisation dedicated to saving lives? What sort of patriotism attacks British officers, obstructs British paramedics, damages coastguard vehicles and intimidates RNLI volunteers? Wrapping yourself in a flag does not make your actions patriotic. Real public service is someone putting on a uniform, answering an emergency call and helping someone they have never met.
Darren Paffey (Southampton Itchen) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I thank my hon. Friend for securing this really important debate. She represents a coastal seat just along from mine in Portsmouth, so she knows the value of the RNLI and the lifeboats. Does she agree that those who have dressed up what they have done as some form of righteous activism are both misguided and utterly irresponsible? In addition to some of the events she described, some children of RNLI volunteers were bullied at school. Does she agree that that crosses a line, and will she join me in full support of our RNLI volunteers and their families, who have paid a price for this?
Amanda Martin
I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. As a teacher, I say that bullying has no place in school, especially from people pretending to be patriotic who are just doing harm to the people helping us in our society.
I will be absolutely clear about the right to protest. I respect that right—I have been on many demonstrations. It is fundamental to our democracy, and I will always defend it. Many people who attended these demonstrations were local residents with genuine concerns about immigration, the asylum system and the impact on our communities. Some of them felt very intimidated by the turnout of protesters in balaclavas. Their concerns deserve to be heard, not dismissed. People should not be made to feel that expressing concerns about immigration makes them extremist or less entitled to have a voice. I understand the anger many constituents feel about illegal immigration, and I share their determination to stop dangerous small boat crossings.
People are entitled to demand secure borders, an effective asylum system and firm action against the criminal gangs that profit from putting lives at risk. They are also entitled to be frustrated by years of political rhetoric and promises from Governments who have had the opportunity to act but have not. There has been progress under this Government, but the job is not finished.
But there is an unmistakable line between peaceful protest and criminal disorder. Assaulting officers, obstructing ambulances, damaging emergency vehicles and intimidating rescue volunteers is not protest; it is criminal behaviour. We must also recognise that alongside concerned residents, there was an organised far-right element to these demonstrations. Hon. Members will be familiar with so-called Danny Tommo and the Patriot Platform. Through his network, far-right activists were mobilised from across the country to come to Portsmouth, often with their faces covered, to exploit local concerns, stir up division and contribute to disorder and hate.
Such people are creating a protest tourism industry, bringing chaos to communities and seeking to profit from public anger. We should never allow those who exploit legitimate public anxieties to claim that they speak for everyone who attends a peaceful demonstration. My first question to the Minister is: what is being doing to improve intelligence sharing between police forces when organised agitators travel between areas, and what more can be done to hold organisers and online instigators accountable?
Sadly, Portsmouth’s experience is not unique. The RNLI told me that it saw 140 reports of abuse and aggression across the country in September alone. The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives recorded over 22,000 incidents of violent abuse between 2024 and 2025—the equivalent of 62 incidents every day. A survey by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine found that 96% of emergency department staff had experienced violence or aggression from a patient or member of the public. Before these protests, I was already hearing from hospital staff in my city that they were facing racial abuse at work. These flashpoints are part of the wider problem of how we treat the people who provide essential public services.
We must consider how these attacks can be prevented. One issue that is raised repeatedly in Portsmouth is the use of face coverings by people intent on causing disorder. There are legitimate religious and medical reasons for wearing face coverings, and those rights must be respected, but there is a clear distinction between those reasons and deliberately concealing one’s identity to commit offences and evade identification. At a subsequent protest in Portsmouth, which the Minister is aware of, police used powers to require the removal of these face coverings. Arrests were reduced dramatically and residents were able to express their views peacefully. Can the Minister explain how the Government are supporting local forces to use existing powers, and whether those powers need strengthening, particularly where police have not received prior notice of a protest?
I also want to address online intimidation, misinformation and disinformation. Local workers and volunteers have been doxed, with photographs of their personal information, including home addresses, shared online. Far-right accounts have labelled them traitors and encouraged hostility towards them. People have received death threats and letters sent to their homes. One worker said that by the time he had left the protest after his 25-hour shift and gone home, he saw his address all over X. He was very distraught about that and what it would do to his family. I have also heard of one worker who has not been home since June because they were misidentified online. People who have done nothing more than their jobs are being left frightened about being in their own homes.
The Hampshire Police Federation told me that officers understand the physical risks involved in policing protests, but after a 24-hour shift or a cancelled day of leave, it is going home and finding their face online that hits them hardest. Emergency workers are increasingly scared to use personal social media accounts to share pictures of their children with family, because they fear that agitators will infiltrate their accounts. New technologies are making this behaviour easier. The RNLI has had agitators entering its stations wearing Meta glasses and uploading footage online to cause further intimidation.
A consistent problem is how difficult it is to get personal information and videos taken down from social media. Social media companies do not have good enough procedures to deal with this—we must press them to do better, and quickly. I have written to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about tackling doxxing. Although I recognise that digital policy sits with other Departments, will the Minister explain the work taking place across Government to protect emergency workers from online intimidation, and to ensure that harmful personal information is removed quickly?
Alongside direct threats, we must challenge deliberate misinformation about the role of our emergency services. When those organisations put out factual statements explaining their work, they are often accused of lying, with hostility towards their staff and volunteers amplified as a result. The RNLI has a legal, moral obligation under international maritime law to assist those in distress at sea. Its crews are not political activists but specialist rescue workers, many of whom volunteer their time. There is a particularly important example from Eastleigh. While rescuing people from a small boat, RNLI crews also helped to ensure the safety of protesters who had gone into the water—the very people protesting at the RNLI’s involvement were saved by its crews.
I am also concerned that elected politicians have helped to amplify misinformation and hostility towards our emergency services. Councillors both locally and nationally amplified information by livestreaming and sharing videos, and by ignoring hostile comments on their social media posts, while emergency services were carrying out their duties. Elected officials and politicians carry responsibilities that should never be used to legitimise intimidation or encourage hatred.
Will the Minister raise with colleagues the need for a stronger standards regime for councillors, including how they can be held accountable when they use their position to encourage abuse or spread dangerous misinformation? What more can the Government do, working with social media platforms and trusted local voices, to challenge false claims before they translate into real-world intimidation or violence?
I was delighted that Portsmouth city council yesterday agreed to grant the RNLI the freedom of the city, following the protests. It was disappointing to note, however, that every Reform councillor abstained. This debate is ultimately about the kind of country we want to be. We can disagree passionately about immigration—we can protest and challenge the Government and we can demand change, and we should defend the rights of people to do so peacefully, even when we profoundly disagree with what they say—but none of that justifies the assault or intimidation of the people who keep us safe, nor should legitimate public concerns ever be exploited as an excuse to spread hatred.
The emergency workers we see being abused today may be the very people our families depend on tomorrow. Their duty is to help whoever is in danger; our duty is to make sure that they do it safely. Those workers do not ask whether somebody deserves to be saved, where they are from, their political background or what they have done. They simply answer the call.
We must defend the right of people to protest, but we must also defend the right of those who serve our communities to do so safely. I hope the Minister will set out how the Government will protect emergency workers from violence, strengthen the response to organised disorder, tackle doxing and misinformation, support those suffering trauma, and ensure that anyone who attacks or intimidates an emergency worker faces swift and serious consequences. Our emergency workers stand up for all of us, regardless of who we are and what we believe. It is time we did the same for them.
Several hon. Members rose—
Derek Twigg (in the Chair)
Order. To get everybody in, it would be helpful if Members kept their speeches to around five minutes.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship again, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for drawing this issue to our attention. I also congratulate her on the way she represents her constituents in this Chamber and in the main Chamber. They are fortunate to have her. When they listen to her contributions, they will know how important that is.
For emergency responders, being subject to physical violence and verbal abuse has become part of their daily routine. From 2024-25, there were 22,500 incidents of violence and abuse directed at ambulance workers across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a rise of 15% on 2023-24. Any level of abuse is of course unacceptable, but we must recognise that the number of incidents is dramatically on the rise, having reached the highest on record over those years. Female ambulance workers are most likely to be targeted by the public. Senior ambulance officials believe that the true number of incidents is even higher than reported.
Other frontline forces, such as the police, regularly face abuse, with attacks on police happening an average of 100 times a day in the United Kingdom. Our officers now report that they are used to being punched and kicked but are growing increasingly concerned as abuse becomes more extreme and frequent. Hon. Members can get an idea from dashcam videos and police programmes showing motorway police on chases; they are attacked far too often.
Firefighters are no exception. Firefighters from the Northern Ireland fire and rescue service have been attacked on a number of occasions, as indeed have the police, by people high on drugs or drink, or with their own particular problems. Data from the London Fire Brigade shows that on average there were two incidents of physical or verbal abuse every week from 2019 to 2023. Such behaviour can never, ever be accepted as an occupational hazard.
These incidents have consequences beyond the emergency workers themselves, delaying responses and putting public safety at risk. Estimates suggest that more than 1,000 patients a day in England suffer potential harm from ambulance handover delays—these things are sometimes unseen, but they are none the less important.
I will give an example from last week in Northern Ireland. On Saturday, a serious assault on a paramedic happened at Altnagelvin hospital. I read about it in the paper on, I think, Monday morning. The lady sustained injuries to the back of her head, neck, face and hands during the attack. She was beaten to the ground and then attacked when she was on the ground. This kind of behaviour towards our emergency workers, who carry out their duties with such compassion when helping those in need, is utterly unacceptable.
Helen Maguire (Epsom and Ewell) (LD)
I thank the hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for securing this important debate. The Rapid Relief Team does vital work by supporting frontline staff to ensure they can work safely during demanding shifts. For example, Surrey fire and rescue service worked all night to contain a fire in Grundon waste recycling centre in Leatherhead, and the volunteers mobilised to provide the crew with encouragement and warm food, which is particularly important when they face abuse and attacks. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is important that we support such organisations?
Jim Shannon
Yes; we are thankful to the group that the hon. Lady mentions, as well as to the general public. We should never forget what they do.
I call on the Minister and Government to work to ensure long-term mental health support is available to our emergency workers. We need to be aware that the guys sometimes carry the trauma and the post-traumatic stress beyond what happens from the physical impact. The psychological effects of these horrific incidents last long after they have taken place.
The uniform worn by our emergency workers is not a shield against physical or verbal abuse. Behind every uniform that I or anybody sees is a real person, with real feelings and emotions. The trauma caused by these incidents cannot simply be taken off with the uniform at the end of the shift. When someone’s uniform is off, and they are sitting on the sofa, they still have to deal with what happened to them during the day. We must stop treating such abuse as an inevitable part of the job and recognise its lasting impact on those who work to save so many lives.
Sureena Brackenridge (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for securing such an important debate on the safety of emergency workers.
Violence, intimidation and hatred should never be seen as just part of the job, and must be called out, with the right legislation, so that perpetrators face real consequences. Like Members across the House, I have heard of incident after incident involving emergency workers with intimidation, threats, racism and discriminatory hatred, far too often involving physical violence, directed at people who are simply trying to do their jobs. I recently met colleagues from the Black Country integrated care board and heard deeply concerning accounts of the increasingly audacious abuse directed at NHS staff, particularly non-white and migrant colleagues on the frontline, who are caring for and helping our communities.
Nobody should feel unsafe or targeted because of the uniform that they wear, whether they are a police officer already responding to a violent incident, a paramedic attending an emergency call, a firefighter being pelted with bricks as they attend a dangerous situation, or an NHS worker attempting to treat a patient but facing a barrage of abuse. These are incredible people carrying out vital public service roles in difficult circumstances.
Parliament has taken important steps to strengthen the law, but the scale of the problem remains stark. A Royal College of Emergency Medicine survey of emergency department staff, published just this September, found that 96% had experienced violence or aggression from patients or the public, 73% had experienced or witnessed it daily or weekly, and 63% had faced discriminatory abuse, including racism. Just 4% always felt safe at work. Closer to home, 3,336 assaults on emergency workers were recorded across the west midlands in 2025-26.
The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 created a specific offence, and the maximum sentence was subsequently increased to two years. Sentencing legislation also treats offences against emergency workers as an aggravating factor, and the Crime and Policing Act 2026 introduces further protections against threatening and abusive behaviour. Despite those changes, the scale of the problem remains deeply concerning. We have to ask: if Parliament has strengthened the law and increased penalties, why are we still seeing figures at this level? This damages morale, undermines staff retention and puts even greater pressure on already stretched public services.
The law must send an unmistakable message: violence, threats, racism and abuse against emergency workers will not be tolerated. Minister, will intelligence sharing help to ensure that perpetrators face real consequences, so that emergency workers can do their jobs free from violence, racism and discriminatory abuse? We cannot keep thanking these workers for their courage while expecting them to tolerate violence, intimidation and hatred simply as part of doing their jobs.
Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Ind)
Meur ras, Mr Twigg. It is an honour to serve again under your chairship.
I invite Members to use their imagination and picture me as an 11-year-old tearaway on Sunday 20 December 1981, walking down Causewayhead in Penzance. We had had a storm the night before, but everything seemed very still the day after it, and I remember seeing a grown man crying for the first time ever. I knew something terrible had happened. It was not until we went to school the week after that I learned of the Penlee lifeboat disaster, in which the eight crew of the Solomon Browne had perished, along with the eight people on board the Union Star.
That disaster had a profound effect on me, but it also had a big impact on lots of my friends. Over the next few weeks, we learned who those eight men on the Solomon Browne were and where they lived in our communities. We also learned about the work of the RNLI. Even to this day, at the end of December in the village of Mousehole, the lights are dimmed to remember the crew of the Solomon Browne.
We not only learned who they were and what they did, but that the RNLI does not differentiate according to the colour of a person’s skin, or their creed; it goes out to help anyone in peril on the sea. People who live in coastal communities see the RNLI saving lives on a weekly basis. Across these British Isles its volunteers save thousands of lives every year. I have nothing but the highest, deepest admiration for these volunteers. They will always have my unequivocal support.
Those volunteers are truly the best of British. Those who abuse and bully those volunteers are, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst of British. They are not patriots. I ask the Minister: what powers can be used to punish those who abuse our heroes—the heroes who week in, week out think not of their own safety, but go out to sea to save people in trouble? The RNLI volunteers act selflessly when we need them to protect us; at this time, we need to do all we can to protect them.
Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for securing this debate. Every day, across our country, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, ambulance crews, nurses, doctors and, as we have heard today, lifeguards put themselves in difficult and dangerous situations to protect and look after us all. They are there for us on our worst days and they have dedicated their lives to serving their communities.
This summer, our firefighters in Suffolk demonstrated the very best of us when they responded to the fire at Dunwich Heath. They put themselves in harm’s way working long, brutal hours to protect our communities and our precious environment. Their work was nothing short of heroic. Far too many emergency workers are subject to violence, abuse and intimidation on a daily basis. In 2025, nearly one in five respondents to the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS foundation trust staff survey said they had personally experienced violence at work and almost 30% had personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse. Furthermore, staff from ethnic minority backgrounds experienced disproportionately high levels of abuse.
I am afraid to say that the figures for the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS foundation trust, which runs our hospitals, were little better. Around 15% of our staff experienced violence, and more than a quarter of those experience harassment, bullying or abuse. Those figures are already shocking, but they are especially shocking when we consider who is on the receiving end. These are people who give so much to others every day: nurses caring for patients throughout the night, mental health professionals supporting the most vulnerable people in our society and doctors providing essential day-to-day care. No one should face abuse or violence simply for going to work.
I have seen their dedication first hand. Earlier this year, I joined Sam and George from the East of England ambulance service as they responded to calls from people across Ipswich. Throughout the morning, I saw the professionalism, compassion and dedication they brought to every call, but I know people like Sam and George continue to face unacceptable levels of abuse. In 2023 alone, there were nearly 1,500 recorded attacks on East of England ambulance service staff.
Police officers in Suffolk face increasing levels of violence, too. In the 12 months leading to April ’26, Suffolk police officers were assaulted at least 622 times. That includes hundreds of physical assaults, verbal abuse and intimidation. These people went to work to help people, not to become victims themselves.
If we are honest, the likelihood is that the true figures are much higher. Incidents go unreported because it is deemed to be part of the job, but abuse should never be part of the job. No one should expect and accept harassment as part of their day-to-day life, no one should accept violence as something they have to put up with, and no one should accept intimidation as something that is normal.
That is why the measures introduced in the Crime and Policing Act are so important. For too long there was a glaring loophole in the law. Our changes will ensure that the same protections apply in all settings, and that those who abuse our emergency workers face serious consequences. That sends an important message: abuse is abuse, wherever it happens, and emergency workers deserve our protection, wherever they serve.
Whether they are ambulance crews, NHS staff, police officers, firefighters or lifeguards, our emergency workers want to be able to do their job safely and return home to their families at the end of their shift. That is not an unreasonable demand. Those people take huge risks to keep us safe, and we ask an extraordinary amount of them. They deserve our protection. I hope this debate serves as a reminder not only of the challenges that emergency workers face, but of the immense debt of gratitude that we all owe them.
Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Twigg. My thanks go to my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for securing this important debate and bringing this issue to Westminster Hall.
In July 2022, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organisation, concluded that the occupation of firefighting is carcinogenic, linking it to firefighters’ exposure to toxicants present in fire effluents. Only six months later, a University of Central Lancashire study on Scottish firefighters, commissioned by the Fire Brigades Union, showed that firefighters have higher cancer and disease mortality rates than the general public. Tragically, many firefighters with rare cancers are diagnosed at the terminal stage.
Firefighters are directly exposed to potentially large quantities of toxins and fire effluents on a regular basis. Fire effluent is a cocktail of toxic, irritant and carcinogenic species, which vary depending on the specific materials burning and the fire conditions at an incident. Exposure through inhalation, ingestion or dermal absorption is likely to be a significant risk factor for acquiring cancers and diseases. Research has found that such toxins are often unknowingly transported back to stations and firefighters’ homes, further increasing their exposure. Even if the levels of contamination at fire stations are much lower than the levels at the incidents, prolonged exposures to potentially harmful contaminants add up over a lifetime of service, with significant health consequences.
One example is exposure to soot. Some 93% of firefighters have noticed soot in their nose after an incident: 30% said that it remained until they washed, 32% said that it was still noticeable for a few hours after washing, 23% said that it remained for up to a day and 6% said that it remained for more than a day. Only 6% reported not noticing soot at all.
Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend for raising the health and safety issues that our firefighters face. This summer, Dorset and Hampshire experienced wildfires, but firefighters in Dorset and Wiltshire fire and rescue service do not have the lightweight protective gear that their counterparts in Hampshire do, meaning that they are more vulnerable to issues such as heat exposure. Does he agree that all fire services should have access to the personal protective equipment that they need for their job?
Brian Leishman
I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. It is imperative that we seek equality, and that means improving PPE for firefighters right across the nation.
To finish on my point about soot exposure, compared with the general public, firefighters are twice as likely to be diagnosed with cancer if they have noticed soot in either their nose or throat.
The FBU has backed not only the devolution of relevant employment injury assistance benefits, but the creation of a Scottish Employment Injuries Advisory Council, to review and modernise any Scottish benefits. Frankly, it is unacceptable that six years after the industrial injury scheme was devolved to Holyrood, the SNP Scottish Government is still not ready to roll out work to deliver the Scottish employment injury assistance scheme. The FBU has strongly advocated for the creation of a Scottish Industrial Injuries Advisory Council to ensure that employees have a permanent seat on the body responsible for reviewing and amending what illnesses, injuries and diseases would be recognised under a new Scottish scheme.
Firefighters have been atrociously let down, as a previous Bill to deliver that body was voted down in Holyrood, delaying this vital piece of work. Firefighter cancers and diseases are recognised with presumptive legislation and/or compensation schemes in more than 50 countries across the world. The way the SNP Government treat our fire service leaves firefighters and communities less safe; it is nothing short of a national disgrace.
Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship for a second time today, Mr Twigg. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) on securing this important debate. I echo the language from many of my hon. Friends about the volunteers at the RNLI. As my hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon) put it, those who have sought to intimidate, persecute and penalise the wonderful people who volunteer and their families really are the worst of the worst. We should all pay tribute to the volunteers for their sacrifice, their service and their courage.
I want to speak about some of the circumstances that emergency responders face in my constituency. Safety is not abstract idea there; my constituency is a remote, sparsely populated place, and parts of it are a long way from the nearest responder. A fell runner who breaks their ankle in the countryside near Haltwhistle; a family who is a cut off by flooding; a driver in a wrecked car at 2 o’clock in the morning: for all of them, the first person to arrive is someone who has chosen that job, who has given up their evening, their weekend or their sleep, possibly even for free in some cases. They ask for very little—they only ask that we do not make their jobs more dangerous than they have to be.
The rising violence and abuse that we have seen against emergency service workers in recent years should never a part of the job and should not be something that we tolerate as a society. Assaults on those workers should carry penalties that mean something, and we should consistently assess those sentences and make sure that they remain a complete deterrent to those taking part in them. Employers and the Government must invest in the training, equipment and protection of those workers. The mental health and trauma support that are essential after serious incidents should be prioritised. Staffing shortages are also a danger, because a crew that is stretched and exhausted is a crew that is more likely to be hurt.
The Police Federation tells us that sentences for assaults on emergency workers are often too lenient. The Fire Brigades Union has condemned attacks on crews on Halloween and bonfire night, and rightly says that anyone who targets firefighters on their way to an emergency is putting a whole community at risk. The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives report physical assaults on paramedics and care assistants and threats and abuse often linked to alcohol, drugs and mental health crises.
We would not accept it in any other workplace. Every service describes the toll of repeated exposure to traumatic incidents. A paramedic does not forget a critically ill child. A firefighter does not forget a cut-out. A police officer does not forget a serious road collision. We cannot keep asking people to carry the mental and emotional toll of those things and believe that just offering them a leaflet is adequate. Mental health support after those serious incidents should be as routine, as quick and as well funded as anything else.
In Northumberland, we cannot discuss emergencies without discussing the A1; I know that the Minister will not be aware of all the ins and outs of the case, but I would like her to press it with the Department for Transport and the Treasury. The single-carriageway stretches of the A1 in Northumberland have a long and well-documented record of serious collisions; this year alone, there have been 12 deaths on them. I want to see the A1 dualled, and I know that all my hon. Friends from Northumberland do as well. I have worked with all the Northumberland MPs, the North East Mayor and other key stakeholders to press the case, and will continue to do so.
Each one of those collisions has a victim and a family, and we will never forget that, but each one of them also sends emergency responders on to the road: police officers to manage the traffic, firefighters to get people out of vehicles, paramedics to work on the live carriageway, and recovery and highway crews to operate just feet away from passing lorries. The danger on roads like that to people who respond is recognised nationally, especially when there is little room to separate moving traffic from people who are trying to help. Each time they are called out, they are asked to work next to fast-moving vehicles, often in the dark and the wet, and do the worst job of their working week. As I have said, I hope that the Minister can bring up the importance of the A1 to colleagues. The argument around dualling is well rehearsed. Because of the tragedies, the economic benefits and the risk to emergency workers, it is essential that we see that road dualled.
I also pay tribute to firefighters and the Fire Brigades Union. When I meet them, I regularly hear about growing risks in my constituency, from flooding, wildfires and climate-related emergencies to antisocial behaviour-related risks to their team. On bonfire night, Northumberland fire and rescue service control handled 266 emergency calls in 24 hours, and the busiest stretch, between 4 pm and 10 pm, saw crews attend 49 incidents across the county—bonfires, bin fires, road collisions and false alarms—with control staff also helping neighbouring services who were struggling with demand that evening. I pay tribute to them and thank the FBU for its consistent engagement with me since I was elected.
I want to widen this debate to include the mountain rescue service. A couple of weeks ago, I was privileged to meet mountain rescue service volunteers in Wylam in my constituency. Northumberland national park mountain rescue and the North of Tyne mountain rescue work in partnership. Between them, they cover about 5,000 square km—all of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, from the Cheviots to the Tyne bridge. They are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—they are not paid at all.
They told me that they search for walkers, fell runners and climbers who are overdue or injured, and they search lowland areas for people who are vulnerable or missing from home. They also go into places that statutory services cannot easily reach. After meeting with them, I heard that storage of their equipment is a sharp problem that they have to deal with. Rescue kit is expensive and must be ready at a moment’s notice. I wrote on 30 October—
Derek Twigg (in the Chair)
Order. Sorry, but I have to stop you there and call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson now.
Luke Taylor (Sutton and Cheam) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I congratulate the hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) on bringing this important debate to Westminster Hall.
Emergency workers are heroes who carry this country on their shoulders. They may be there with someone in their final moments, they may have to put their life on the line to rescue someone in harm’s way and, sadly, they may also witness extraordinary abuse and violence—all in a day’s work. They are heroes because they take that mantle on with pride and commitment. They are the best of us because they cope with the unbelievable stress of constantly having to expect the unexpected.
What they should not have to expect, however, is extraordinary abuse, violence or risk to life and limb to be targeted at them for doing their jobs. It is not part of the job to be insulted. It is not par for the course to be assaulted. There is no excuse for this vile and disgusting behaviour—yet it is on the rise. There were 22,536 incidents of violence, aggression and abuse against paramedics and other ambulance workers in 2024-25, up 15% from a year before, according to the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives. Since many incidents go unreported, that number is likely an underestimate.
The latest NHS staff survey found that nearly one in seven workers in England were physically attacked by patients or the public last year—the highest level in three years. I recently met with representatives from the Royal College of Nursing, who told me about the scale of the challenge their members face, often on top of incredibly difficult working conditions. They pointed out that some trusts have had to take the extraordinary step of launching awareness campaigns encouraging patients not to abuse nursing staff, such as Chelsea and Westminster hospital’s “I Am Human” campaign. Could there be a sorrier reflection of the state of affairs than a campaign asking people not to harm those who are there to help them?
This entire debate is taking place in the context of the outrageous scenes we saw earlier this year in Portsmouth and across the south coast, in which thugs—that is who they are: thugs—targeted RNLI volunteers and staff for daring to comply with the law, their mandate and simple human conscience. The RNLI is a British institution, and those who take on this difficult work sum up what is best about this country, not least the Dunkirk spirit of ordinary people performing brave feats of rescue at sea; yet these heroes were subject to abuse both in person and online. They were confronted in public and doxed online, their children were bullied at school because of their parents’ rescue work, and they were forced to pause their services in Portsmouth altogether—all of that due to a handful of small people with small hearts and an even smaller and warped worldview whipped up by the extreme right.
The Liberal Democrats are clear that the targeting of emergency workers in the RNLI and across the emergency services is egregious on a human level, dangerous at a public health level and a critical risk to wider faith in public institutions at a Government level. It is egregious on a human level to do what those committing these crimes are doing—namely, refusing to see the human being behind the uniform or disregarding their right to go about doing their job safely. There is never an excuse for this kind of behaviour, and it is right that a specific offence was created in the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018.
It is dangerous at a public health level, because when threats, intimidation and violence go up, the attractiveness of a career in the emergency services predictably declines, compounding existing shortages in policing, paramedics and nursing. To take policing alone, when officers are already overstretched, these issues only compound the strain of facing the work day and lead to sickness-related absences. Between the challenges facing police officers and the fact that in London alone there are currently 189,000 rest days owed to officers, this gruelling picture is clear.
That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for funding so that police services can offer their officers proactive mental health and wellbeing check-ups every six months, as well as a package of policies to recruit more officers to ease the burden on the existing workforce. It is why we supported and continue to support the 2018 Act that created a specific offence for assault of an emergency worker, and why I call on the Government to foster stronger links between hospital staff and local police so that they can work towards a stronger, more assuring police presence in medical settings, where appropriate and necessary.
It is also why we continue to publicly and proudly stand up for the RNLI by calling out the dangerous and un-British extremists who have targeted it, enflamed by the dehumanising rhetoric that too many on the right of politics espouse. Particularly dangerous are the repeated descriptions of the RNLI as a “taxi service” for migrants: a disgraceful misrepresentation of the role of those heroic volunteers and other staff. I am sad not to see Reform Members in this debate to condemn and to withdraw completely those remarks.
With all that in mind, we Liberal Democrats are keen to hear what specific additional steps the Government are taking to home in on the perpetrators of these crimes and to tackle the broader set of challenges facing our emergency services. I hope the Minister will give specific indications of what the Government plan to do.
Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Stamford) (Con)
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for securing the debate.
Our emergency services repeatedly put themselves in harm’s way to protect, serve and save our communities. Whether confronting criminals, responding to medical emergencies, rescuing people from danger or entering burning buildings, they carry out extraordinary acts of public service, often in the most challenging and dangerous circumstances. They should never have to accept threats, harassment or physical violence as simply part of the job. It is not what they signed up for and it is criminality. When they go to work to protect us, we have a responsibility to ensure that they are afforded the protections, respect and security they deserve.
We have heard in this debate about the scale of the problem. The statistics discussed demonstrate how torrid the situation is. The experience of the RNLI is particularly horrifying and completely unforgivable. Those figures represent more than just physical injuries. Violence and intimidation can lead to trauma and, in some cases, to people questioning whether to continue in a profession that they once felt was a calling. There is also a cost to the public. Every minute spent dealing with an assault, reporting an incident or recovering from an injury is a minute that could have been spent responding to an emergency and protecting someone in need.
That is why the Conservative Government backed the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 and then, through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, doubled the maximum penalty for such assaults to two years’ imprisonment and introduced Harper’s law, under which anyone who kills an emergency worker while committing a crime faces a life sentence. That was important recognition that assaults on those serving the public are abhorrent and that the law must deter them.
However, legislation is only as effective as its implementation. It is not enough to increase maximum penalties, as we did, if the sentences actually handed down do not reflect the seriousness of the offending. Sentencing Council data indicates that 25% of offenders or fewer receive immediate custody. Of course, not everyone should face imprisonment; it is not always appropriate. However, we must question whether judges are handing down sentences sufficiently strong to be a deterrent. Where someone deliberately assaulted an emergency worker carrying out their duties, the judge must impose a sentence that reflects the gravity of that, because the message should be sent that it will not be tolerated. No emergency worker should feel that reporting an assault is pointless or that they are left alone to deal with the consequences.
I also pay tribute to the volunteers who stand alongside our emergency services. Two particular groups protect the communities I serve. Rutland Community First Responders give their time freely, around the clock, to attend medical emergencies on behalf of the East Midlands ambulance service. In our rural communities—the hundreds of villages that I serve—those first responders can be the difference between life and death in the first critical minutes. They also teach residents how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It is impossible to raise the subject of Rutland Community First Responders without mentioning the indefatigable Barbara Crellin, who is a real heart of our communities and the heart of that service.
The Leicestershire and Rutland 4x4 Response volunteers use their own vehicles to keep vital services running in severe weather. During the pandemic they delivered more than 1,000 pieces of medicine and protective equipment. They ask for nothing in return. I thank them for what they do. They deserve the same protection and respect as every emergency worker spoken about in this debate.
This debate is very simple, and we should advance a simple principle: those who put themselves in harm’s way to protect the rest of us should not have to fear becoming victims themselves. They deserve our gratitude, but our gratitude alone is not enough; they deserve protection and assurances that the law will stand behind them
I would be grateful if the Minister would answer three questions. First, what assessment have the Government made of whether current sentencing outcomes undermine the deterrent effect of the legislation, and of whether they properly reflect the seriousness of these offences? Secondly, what steps are being taken to ensure that emergency workers who are assaulted receive proper support thereafter and that instances are properly investigated within emergency organisations? Thirdly, what further measures will the Government take to ensure that these protections translate into real improvements in the day-to-day safety of emergency workers? They run into danger to protect us all, and we must stand by them.
The Minister for Policing and Crime (Sarah Jones)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for securing this debate. Can I just say what a wonderful MP she is? We see each other in multiple settings, because she is very busy campaigning on many different issues, and we are all very lucky that she is in this Chamber, as was said by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon).
My hon. Friend has brought to the House an issue that should unite us all. However, as she eloquently described, it has not, and that shames those MPs and councillors who do not see the world as most of us do. I will focus my remarks on the specifics that she raised, but I also want to discuss the abuse of emergency workers more widely.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda and Ogmore (Chris Bryant), who is now Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, introduced the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 as a private Member’s Bill. He campaigned on this issue for a long time, and it is good that we have the legislation on the statute book. However, we must ensure that it is doing what we need it to do, which is why we updated it through the Crime and Policing Act 2026 to ensure that it applies in all settings. My right hon. Friend did a powerful bit of campaigning to get the original legislation across the line back in 2018.
Members have made powerful points about the wider issue of the assault of emergency workers. As my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton North East (Sureena Brackenridge) said, nobody should be abused because of the uniform that they wear. That should be our starting point, and we should accept nothing less. The hon. Member for Strangford talked about mental health support for those who are abused, which is a very important part of the policing jigsaw. We will introduce a more powerful covenant through legislation. We currently have a policing covenant that is similar to the armed forces covenant, but we want to strengthen it to secure mental health support for police officers who find themselves in very difficult situations and who will inevitably struggle as a result.
We heard about some disasters in which Members’ constituents have had to face real tragedy, including the Penlee lifeboat disaster and the fire at Dunwich heath, both of which were real reflections of the harm and danger that we ask emergency workers to step into. I myself have been this year to three funerals of police officers who died in road incidents, which is catastrophic, and a total of seven have died this year.
There was some debate about the risks that firefighters take. I am very interested in and supportive of the FBU’s position on the support that our firefighters need, particularly in respect of carcinogens and whether there is a direct correlation, and whether compensation schemes should be set up. Such schemes are now available if someone dies from mesothelioma, which is linked to asbestos, so if there is a direct correlation for our firefighters, it is right that we look at those issues.
My hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North said that true public service is putting on a uniform, answering an emergency call and helping someone you have never met. That is what happened in Portsmouth during the events of 6 September, which she has raised today, when emergency services and their partners responded to the small boat arrival in Eastney. They were there to protect life, to maintain public safety and to carry out their duties. Instead of being allowed to do that, officers were injured and emergency service vehicles were damaged. Hampshire police subsequently confirmed that seven police officers had been injured and treated at the scene, and we have heard some of those stories.
We have also seen reports of RNLI volunteers being subjected to abuse and their personal details circulated online. These are people who give their time to save others, and their families should not have to wonder whether a rescue at sea will bring a threat to their front door. The RNLI’s task is to save lives; immigration policy is the Government’s responsibility. We must never allow the two to be confused or allow lifesaving crews to become targets for anger about that policy.
Our response must be practical as well as unequivocal. First, criminal behaviour must be investigated, and those responsible brought to justice. As my hon. Friend said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a genuine concern about illegal immigration—people have good reason to be frustrated with what has happened and a right to demand secure borders—but that is very different from criminal behaviour, which must be investigated. Secondly, emergency services need effective arrangements to identify threats, share information and protect their people. My hon. Friend asked about that and she is absolutely right. Thirdly, we must tackle online targeting and intimidation, rather than treating it as separate to the risks on our streets. I want very briefly to touch on each of those points.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight constabulary has investigated the disorder at Eastney. It has reviewed extensive video evidence and charged individuals with violent disorder, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment on individual cases or prejudice ongoing court proceedings. The absence of an arrest on the day does not mean that offending will go unpunished. Police need to investigate who was responsible, secure the evidence and take action, and the number of arrests that take place on the night does not reflect the full police response—it is really important for me to say that.
Of course, operational decisions are down to the police. The Government’s responsibility is to provide the legal framework and support effective policing. We expect criminal conduct to be investigated robustly, and we expect the safety of emergency workers to be taken seriously. There are already specific protections for emergency workers. Common assault or battery used against an emergency worker acting in the exercise of their functions can attract a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment. More serious violence can be prosecuted under offences carrying higher maximum penalties. Those protections are not confined to paid employees; the statutory definition includes people providing search and rescue services, for example.
Turning to the right to peaceful protest—I am aware of the time—I must emphasise the word “peaceful”. It does not provide a licence to assault a police officer, threaten a paramedic, damage a rescue vehicle or obstruct a lifesaving response. We have seen groups of men dressed in black with their faces concealed seeking to intimidate communities and those carrying out vital public duties. That behaviour is thuggish and unacceptable. Wearing particular clothing alone is not an offence, but masks must not be used to embolden threats, violence or intimidation, and the police have a range of powers to address that conduct. We are seeing that play out not just in the protesting field, but through some public spaces protection orders, where the police can intervene in particular locations.
The police can impose conditions on processions and assemblies and ask for the removal of face coverings, and they can use dispersal powers where appropriate. They have to use those powers lawfully. I know that there will be Members who are concerned about getting the balance right between protest and criminality, and about how the police can intervene. We asked Lord Macdonald to review the entire protest and hate crime landscape. We are considering his report and will respond to it in due course. I think all Members here will be interested in the balance that he believes we need to strike and what we need to do to get there.
We do not have time to talk about online intimidation as much as I would like. The Online Safety Act 2023 is there up to a point, and I know that Members across the House and the Government are considering whether those powers in the criminal law adequately address the malicious publication of personal information. We need to look at that, and my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North is absolutely right to challenge us on it.
I thank my hon. Friend for giving emergency workers in Portsmouth and across the country a voice in this House. Today, the country fell silent in memory of those brave souls who gave their lives so that we may live in freedom and safety. Theirs is a legacy of selfless sacrifice, and it lives on in the public servants we have been discussing today—the devoted men and women who protect us and answer the call when it comes. They deserve our thanks, respect and protection.
Amanda Martin
I thank the Minister for her work and her words. I am glad that we have had cross-party support in this debate today. I welcome the Opposition spokesperson’s standing firm against abuse and violence towards our emergency workers. My dad was a police officer, so this is very important to me. We have come a very long way from clapping our emergency workers during covid to the state that we are in now, but I do have hope and I want to work across Government to make sure that our emergency workers go to work every day feeling safe and protected as they protect our communities.