Spending on MPs’ security has seen a huge expansion in the years following Jo Cox’s murder, with the amount rising from £171,000 in 2015-16 to £4.2 million in 2017-18. MPs are to be offered security guards to protect their constituency surgeries but Mr Carmichael warned anything that puts a barrier between MPs and constituents is “only treating the symptom when the underlying disease is the much more visceral, poisonous and polarised nature of our debate”. Mr Carmichael said there is no simple cause but “anything that raises the temperature of debate, that dehumanises people in public life can lead you to a place where a tiny minority of people who would be violent feel vindicated in doing so”. You shouldn’t just shrug these things off and in the future I’ll call them out where I find them.” Treating the symptom “I think in retrospect that was a mistake. “In the past these things have been really upsetting for my staff, for my family, but I’ve shrugged it off and said it’s just something I have to put up with. “I once had a demonstration outside my office where somebody thought it was appropriate to chalk the outline of a dead body. “Some of it social media-led, sometimes it comes through the post, sometimes it will be highly abusive emails,” he said.
#Body sketch code
Mr Carmichael, who as MP for Orkney and Shetland lives in the lowest crime post code in the country, said he had experience a number of incidents in the past, including a chilling message scrawled in chalk outside his office. Tributes to Sir David Amess.Įarlier this year, a 63-year-old man was charged with threatening to shoot Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross in the head, and even Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has received three threats to “life and limb” over the past two years. His death is the latest in a string of shocking incidents involving sitting politicians, including the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox five years ago and the stabbing of East Ham MP Stephen Timms in May 2010.Ĭarol Monaghan, the SNP MP for Glasgow North West, was forced to move herself to a safe house following a death threat in 2019, while party colleague Joanna Cherry required a police escort to attend a constituency surgery because of a similar threat. 25-year-old chargedĪli Harbi Ali, 25, appeared at the Old Bailey by video-link from high-security Belmarsh prison on Friday accused of murdering the Conservative MP. Meanwhile Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart, who sits on the House of Commons Commission which looks at MPs’ security, said he will have to review the safety of his own constituency surgeries in the aftermath of the killing of Sir David. Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael warned the level of abuse targeted at MPs is “way beyond anything that would have been accepted in 2001” when he was first elected, with the worst hate reserved for female or ethnic minority members. We can reveal abuse, including an incident where an individual already subject to a restraining order contacted an SNP MP in the days following the death of Sir David, has forced politicians to reconsider how they interact with the public. One week on from the death of MP Sir David Amess, who was stabbed during a constituency surgery last Friday, some of Scotland’s leading political figures have warned of the “visceral, poisonous and polarised nature” of our national debate. Scottish politicians have laid bare the shocking abuse and death threats they receive from members of the public, with one MP revealing a chalk outline of a dead body was scrawled outside his office. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across.