Harassment in Public Life

Debate between Catherine West and Amber Rudd

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

My hon. Friend makes such an important point. That is largely, but not exclusively, where a lot of the hate comes from. For my own part, I no longer look at my Twitter timeline, but I know that plenty of people, particularly younger people, live online and they should not be put off coming into public life because they would then be expected not to engage on Facebook or Twitter. We must have an environment in which such people can continue to engage in their normal communications and go into public life if they choose to do so.

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green) (Lab)]

Will the Home Secretary join me in condemning the behaviour in my constituency this weekend of an individual attending the William Hill darts championship who got dressed up as the shadow Home Secretary, put that on Twitter, and began making insults and using racist and demeaning language? Is the Home Secretary pleased, as I am, that the venue in my constituency was able to eject the individual and that we have robust approaches to dealing with this? Will she condemn it, and will she perhaps look again at whether we can do anything more in relation to licensing to ensure that, at sporting events and in entertainment venues, we are doing all we can to clamp down on racism or disgusting and demeaning behaviour to those in public life?

[Amber Rudd]

I wholeheartedly condemn that. It sounds as though it was dealt with appropriately, so I commend the officers engaged with and delivering on that. If the hon. Lady felt that we should be doing anything in addition, I would welcome an early appointment with her, so that she can tell me what that is. I urge her to have a look at the recent report from Lord Bew to see whether anything should be added.