Harassment in Public Life — House of Commons, 2017-12-18
Topic: Civil Rights
Diane Julie Abbott (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Home Secretary agree that vigorous debate and insults have been a feature of political life in this country for centuries? It was the distinguished Conservative politician Benjamin Disraeli who described the smile of his opponent Robert Peel as resembling "the silver fittings on a coffin." But does she also agree that the abuse and harassment of recent years is qualitatively different? It is partly the sheer volume, which is facilitated by social media. Nobody who has sat at home and seen literally hundreds of abusive tweets flood their timeline can underestimate the psychological pressure these things put on us all. But it is also the brutal sexism and racism, together with threats of rape and violence, which are a world away from the studied insults of the Victorian House of Commons. And, of course, there was the murder of our colleague Jo Cox The Home Secretary will be aware that I have some knowledge of these matters, as fully 45% of this abuse on Twitter in the run-up to the last general election was directed at me. Does she agree, however, that it is unhelpful to suggest that abuse and harassment are the sole preserve of any particular political party or any faction of a political party Social media companies have a role to play. They are quick to take down material that is in breach of copyright; they need to be made to react as quickly to offensive material and material that incites hatred or even violence. If necessary, a system of punitive fines should be put in place But mainstream media also have a role to play. When politicians get death threats as a result of how they vote in this House, that is not the primary responsibility of social media companies; if anyone is responsible, it is the headline writers who accuse judges of being enemies of the people, and elected Members of Parliament of being mutineers and saboteurs, when all they are doing is exercising their civil right to cast their vote in the House of Commons Political parties also have a role to play. All parties should be wary of attack ads, posters, Facebook advertising and political narratives that implicitly target particular politicians on the basis of race, colour and creed. That would be the lowest form of dog-whistle politics When people online use the N word, and when they use racist, homophobic, misogynistic, anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim language, that is not acceptable. Threats, and the use of memes of people being hanged or targeted in crosshairs, against any party or public official, from whatever quarter, are equally unacceptable. However, Opposition Members believe that the knee-jerk reaction to every problem cannot be yet more legislation. There are laws against abuse, threats and violence, and before we consider fresh legislation, these existing laws need to be properly enforced against every perpetrator and to defend every victim. In particular, Opposition Members query whether there needs to be special legislation for people in public life. Abuse and harassment are not acceptable for anyone Finally, does the Home Secretary agree that we need to deal with this acknowledged crisis of abuse for the sake not just of those of us who are currently Members of this House but of young people who might be considering a career in public life but are rightly horrified by current levels of abuse?