Conservative MP calls for suspension of face to face surgeries
After yesterday’s fatal stabbing of Sir David Amess, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has advocated for MPs to stop holding face to face meetings with constituents for the time being.
Ellwood, who tried to help the police officer stabbed to death in the 2018 Westminster attack, tweeted this morning: “This is a vital part of our work – our accessibility with the public. But [there is an] understandable huge anxiety amongst MPs now. Until the Home Secretary’s review of MP security I would recommend a temporary pause to face to face meetings.”
Talking to World Tonight on Radio 4, he added: “I would recommend that no MP has direct surgery. You can move to Zoom, there’s other ways, you can actually achieve an awful lot over the telephone, you can get things moving far faster than having to wait for the surgery date as well.”
Ellwood’s comments come amid a wider discussion on MPs’ security.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, said there will need to be a discussion in the coming days around MPs’ security and any measures to be taken, while Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked all police forces to review security arrangements for MPs “with immediate effect”.