‘I carry personal alarm 24/7’: Scarborough and Whitby MP urges ‘de-escalation of abuse’ against women in politics

Alison Hume, the first woman to represent Scarborough and Whitby in Parliament, has said she cannot hold advice surgeries without security and has to carry a personal alarm at all times due to the abuse and threats she and other women in politics face.

The Labour MP said that “working on the safety of women and women politicians” was a priority for her.

Speaking at the last meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby area committee – which has 15 councillors, of whom four are women – she noted: “Just looking around here, we are in the minority, and one of the reasons is that increasingly women just do not feel confident stepping forward for public office because of the amount of abuse that we seem to receive disproportionately.”

Last July, all 335 new Members of Parliament were given welcome packs containing pocket alarms with GPS trackers due to heightened safety concerns.

A recent study co-authored by experts at King’s College London and the University of Copenhagen found that “women are faced with a double burden from toxic behaviours” in politics.

Ms Hume said: “I’ve been very conscious of that personally, having to carry a personal alarm with me all the time.

“I’m not allowed to hold an advice surgery without security and it’s really brought home to me the cost of, unfortunately, the terrible murders of Sir David Amess MP and Jo Cox MP, that politicians are in the firing line.”

She added: “I know that councillors are also [in the firing line], and we all need to work together to de-escalate this abuse of politicians. We are doing our job and we should be free to do that job without fear.”

May’s inaugural election for Scarborough Town Council has 49 candidates but only 38 per cent of those running are women.

A 2022 report by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) states that “in the UK, women MPs receive more tweets targeting them as women and questioning their position as politicians than men MPs.

“Some of these tweets contain misogynist abuse as well as demonization and objectification of women MPs.”

Earlier this year, a new comparative study on toxicity in politics published in the American Political Science Review, found that abuse directed at women in politics is viewed as “more severe than those aimed at men, even if the nature and frequency of abuse received is similar”.

It noted that: “Not only may women politicians be exposed to higher rates of hostile behaviours, they must also deal with what the attacks mean about their place as women in politics.”

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