Harassment in Public Life

Debate between Amber Rudd and Baroness Morgan of Cotes

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

The right hon. and learned Lady makes a passionate case about the difficulties, challenges and very real threats that all MPs find themselves facing. Let us be clear that the real criminals are the instigators of these threats and attacks. Everybody should be clear that anything that is illegal offline is illegal online, so anybody who is in receipt of such a threat should go to the police, so that action can be taken.

From the Government’s point of view, we have made sure that the police have the resources to address the problem. We have invested, through the police transformation fund, in new digital advice to ensure that the police know how to record for evidence the types of accusation and attack that Members may receive online, so that there is a proper trail of evidence for prosecution. I believe that the attackers are the clear enemy, and we should focus our policy on them.

[Nicky Morgan (Loughborough) (Con)]

Let us be very clear about what is happening here. Wherever the abuse comes from, it is a deliberate action to remove from the public space certain voices that these people do not agree with. I applaud all the comments that have been made so far, particularly those made by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve), who called on us all to act collectively.

Does the Home Secretary agree that it is not enough simply to say that such abuse is appalling? We have all got to think about every word that we use. We are all used to robust political debate, but the way in which we manage ourselves and our teams, the way in which Departments are managed, the way in which the Front Bench teams are managed and the way in which party leaders allow their campaigners to operate, conduct campaigns and put material on social media all contribute to how people see our politics and our democracy. It will put people off going into public life if the Members in this House today do not call out such unacceptable abuse every time they see it unfolding online or in the press.

[Amber Rudd]

My right hon. Friend’s question follows on from that asked by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve). I agree that we must call out such abuse and not allow it to become the new normal.

My right hon. Friend makes a particular point about the past 10 days or so, during which I know several colleagues have received a particularly large number of nasty threats and attacks. I point out to her that a number of colleagues have experienced such levels of intimidation and threat for a much longer period. I know that because those colleagues have approached me, or because I have heard about them approaching their own chief of police to report threats and request additional security, not only for themselves but sometimes for their staff. This has not just happened in the past few weeks; it happened more than a year ago, and in some cases two years ago. We must not simply accept that such abuse is part of the life of an MP. It is not acceptable, and now is the time for us to call it out and make the necessary changes together.