MPs Are “Self-Censoring” Speeches For Fear Of Threats And Abuse, Warns Labour MP

The Labour MP John Slinger spoke to The Rundown podcast about the abuse of politicians (Parliament.UK)

3 min read16 January

A Labour MP has warned that increasing threats, abuse and intimidation towards politicians are leading them to self-censor what they say on difficult topics.

John Slinger, who was elected the MP for Rugby at the 2024 general election, said that the level of abuse experienced by candidates during that campaign was "off the scale", and that a public education campaign may be necessary to change attitudes about what is acceptable.

As well as the murder of two MPs in the past decade, Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, there have been growing threats to the safety of politicians in the UK. Elected representatives and candidates face rising abuse both in-person and online, prompting enhanced security measures and changes in the way they interact with the public.

A cross-party conference set up last year by House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to examine how the problem can be tackled reported a "normalisation" of intimidation towards politicians. Data shows women and ethic minorities in particular are subjected to abuse and threats.

Slinger, who participated in that conference, told this week's episode of PoliticsHome podcast The Rundown: “It's not an exaggeration to say that our democracy is being attacked.”

The Rugby MP, who is the vice-chair of a new all-party parliamentary group on defending democracy, said: “Our democracy, frankly, is at risk and it's being undermined, and we need to explore that, we need to have a very open debate about that.”

He added that, as well as “foreign state actors seeking to influence our democratic process”, there are campaign groups in the UK who “very sadly believe that it is their democratic right to carry out behaviours which are either criminal, or just below the criminal threshold, which intimidate candidates and elected representatives”.

Slinger warned that the abuse and threats facing MPs are making them censor what they say in public and in Parliament.

“If in the back of your mind you are thinking, 'well, I'm going to get a pile-on on social media, or someone might try and intimidate me in the street, or hurl abuse at me, or threaten me', then that will affect people," he told the podcast.

“I'm sad to say it has, some of the evidence that we looked at in the speaker's conference, very regrettably, suggests that some MPs are potentially self-censoring. Because they are human beings, and the level of abuse and intimidation in the last election campaign was off the scale.”

The Rundown is presented by Alain Tolhurst, and is produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot