Priti Patel: MPs could get police protection for constituency surgeries
Home Secretary Priti Patel has said the government is considering giving MPs police protection while they carry out their constituency surgeries, in the wake of the killing of Conservative MP Sir David Amess at his on Friday.
Patel said the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle had already taken a “range of measures” since the brutal killing on Friday, including the question of “when you hold your surgeries could you have officers or some kind of protection while you’re holding your surgery,” she told Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday.
“Now it’s not for me to determine the mechanism for that right now but there are discussions under the way right now looking at a whole spectrum,” she continued.
It comes after Amess, 69, who represented Southend West in Essex, was stabbed multiple times at his constituency surgery in Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea on Friday afternoon.
Treatment was first given at the scene with an air ambulance standing by, however Amess could not be saved.
His death has sparked a debate about MP’s safety, five years after the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox first shone a light on the matter in what Patel described today as an “intensive period” for MPs.
“We have all changed our ways of working because of changing concerns, threats in society,” Patel said.
But she reiterated safety measures should not change the democratic relationship between MPs and their constituents, and said: “This should never ever break that link between an elected representative and their democratic role, responsibility and duty to the people who elected them.”
Asked if the government is considering introducing airport-style security for constituency surgeries, Patel said: “That would be with the police and the House authorities. There are lots of things under consideration already.”
Social media anonymity in question
As well as physical measures protecting MP’s safety, Patel also said she was considering a ban on the right to anonymity on social media, to quell the “cruel and relentless” abuse of politicians online.
The home secretary said that she and her peers had been victim to “appalling” online attacks and said: “We can’t carry on like this.”
“This is about wider public discourse and I would go as far to say social media and anonymity on social media, where Members of Parliament are the subject of some of the most cruel comments and attacks, and they are relentless,” she continued.
Pressed on whether this could include specific legislation removing anonymity, Patel said: “I want us to look at everything and there is work taking place already.”
A 25-year-old man who has now been named as Ali Harbi Ali was arrested on suspicion of murder following the stabbing and is now being held by police under the Terrorism Act.