Police ‘often don’t do anything’ when abuse reported, MP says

Andrew Rosindell says MPs’ safety needs to be taken more seriously.
Andrew Rosindell at the scene near Belfairs Methodist Church (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
PA Wire
Ben Hatton17 October 2021

A Conservative MP has said police often “don’t do anything” when he reports abusive messages.

Andrew Rosindell who represents Romford was speaking after Sir David Amess was killed in his nearby constituency of Southend West on Friday.

Speaking to the PA news agency outside Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea where Sir David was stabbed to death on Friday while meeting constituents, Mr Rosindell said MPs are “a little bit” frightened after the incident.

I see a lot of more nasty people around than ever before

Andrew Rosindell MP

Mr Rosindell said he has brushed off abuse and threats received in the past “because we’ve got a job to do”, adding he believes a change is needed in the approach taken to MPs’ security.

He said his office does contact police about abuse, but often either nothing is done or he is asked to “give endless statements which lead nowhere”.

He told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme: “I’ve been an MP 20 years, and during that period I see a lot of more nasty people around than ever before, and they are willing to say and do things in a way that I would never have thought possible in this country. And we all have to be really aware and keep our wits about us.

“The abuse we get on social media, by emails, I mean we get it all the time. But we brush it off because we’ve got a job to do. And we tell the police. The police have got other things to do, it’s not always followed up.

“And I think probably this has all got to change, we have got to take this a bit more seriously in future.

“I’ve had my office arsoned, my car was smashed up, someone tried to get into my house and injure me – managed to stop them.

“All these things have happened over the years, but you take it in your stride because our priority is to get on with our job, and we do tend to not think much about our own security, I’m afraid. But I’m thinking now maybe we should do a bit more.”

The MP told Times Radio: “In the last few years I’ve had four or five incidents where I’ve had to report things to the police.

“And quite often they… literally don’t do anything, or the onus is on me to have to give endless statements which lead nowhere.

“I’ve sat and given endless statements in the past and nothing comes back to you.

“I was attacked in the 2017 election. I’ve had threatening emails and abusive emails sent to constituents about me. Almost nothing ever happens with these things.

“Do I blame the police? They’ve got a job to, they’re under-resourced, I guess. These cases are very difficult to get to the bottom of. And life moves on. The next day I have got 101 other issues to have to deal with.”

He described it as a “huge dilemma”.

Speaking to PA, Mr Rosindell said: “Are we frightened? A little bit after this, yeah, I have to admit.

“If it could happen to David, it could happen to any MP.”

He added that MP surgeries, where they meet and speak with constituents, should not be promoted on social media and should instead be promoted in the local community.

“The problem with social media is that it can be picked up by anybody, anywhere,” he said. “A bad person can see it and can suddenly turn up and this is clearly what happened with David.”

Sir David had publicised his surgery at the church on Twitter several days before the attack.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in