EMERGING SECURITY ISSUES FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS AND THE IMPACT ON DEMOCRACY
EMERGING SECURITY ISSUES FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS AND THE IMPACT ON DEMOCRACY The Deputy Speaker of the UK House of Commons examines increasing security issues in Parliament.
Rt Hon. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, MP is the Deputy
Speaker of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. He was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 1997 for the constituency of Chorley. He held a number of Select Committee roles before being elected as the Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker in 2010.
This article highlights how security issues for Parliamentarians impact on their lives as well as on the practicalities of administering Parliament and the democratic process itself. As the Deputy Speaker of the UK House of Commons, I am responsible for maintaining order in the Chamber but outside the Chamber, I am passionate about improving security for my colleagues and staff in the House of Commons – on and off the Estate. As Chair of the Consultative Panel on Parliamentary Security for the UK Parliament, I lead a Committee composed of senior MPs and Peers which works closely with security professionals to provide advice, make recommendations and add political support to security policy in Parliament. The context – UK threat levels The UK threat level from international terrorism has been ‘severe’ (i.e. ‘highly likely’) since 2014, and twice in 2017 went to ‘critical’. Attacks in the UK have included the attack on Westminster itself, the Manchester Arena, London Bridge, Finsbury Park mosque and Parsons Green tube bomb. Of course, many more plots have been disrupted during that period and since by police and security services. This ‘severe’ threat level applies to everyone in the country, and former heads of our Security Services have said publicly that it is likely to continue at this level for another 5-10 years at least. In other words, the threat is not going away any time soon. When the Director of Security for the UK Parliament talks to
222 | The Parliamentarian | 2019: Issue Three | 100th year of publishing
new Members of Parliament and staff about this threat level, he says that it means they should ‘be alert, not alarmed’. However, for Parliamentarians, international terrorism is not the major threat they face. Instead, for MPs there are other threats which are far more prevalent, likely to cause them harm and increase their fear - domestic terrorism, fixated individuals, individuals with mental health issues or those with extremist views. Threats to Members of Parliament UK Members tell me that abuse towards them and their staff is reaching unprecedented levels. This is unacceptable. Many UK MPs are regularly threatened and abused through interactions on social media or in supermarkets in their constituencies and recently there have been vocal protesters outside the UK Parliament intimidating them daily. Threats to UK MPs, their staff and families include threats to kill or rape, physical assaults, anti-semitic, homophobic, misogynistic and racist abuse and harassment. Women and ethnic minority colleagues tend to be targeted more. MPs are particularly at risk because they debate and vote on divisive issues (for example, abortion, fox hunting and of course, ‘Brexit’); they are public figures who need to be accessible and recognisable; they are dealing with and trying to help people in vulnerable and desperate circumstances and are often the last port of call; they want to use social media to connect with constituents; and are regularly subject to media scrutiny and coverage which can inflame public opinion. There are not many jobs where
complete strangers will have such open access to somebody, whether at events, at surgeries, at their constituency offices or even online. For many MPs, this creates a dilemma – how can democratic access to an elected representative be maintained whilst also ensuring that measures are in place to keep them safe? The threat manifests itself wherever the Member is but is particularly acute in the local constituencies. The murder of Jo Cox, MP in June 2016 was shocking and tragic, but it was not the first time a UK MP has been attacked working in their constituency. Member of Parliament, Stephen Timms was attacked with a knife at a surgery in 2010 and in 2000, Nigel Jones, MP was attacked with a samurai sword by a constituent with a mental health issue. Nigel’s Political Assistant, Andrew Pennington, was murdered helping him. Most recently is the story of Rosie Cooper, MP who was the subject of a murder plot by a white supremacist which thankfully never took place. The interesting thing about Rosie’s story is that she is not an outspoken MP within the UK Parliament. She is very unassuming with a low profile. This demonstrated to me that all MPs are at risk and should be protected. Although such physical attacks are rare, in the last couple of years sadly there has also been a big increase in the intimidation of MPs beyond Westminster – office windows smashed in, leaflets burnt in letterboxes, MPs being followed and approached late at night, phone calls or tweets saying somebody wants to ‘do a Jo Cox’ to a Member.