MPs face ‘unprecedented threats’, with many reporting persistent online abuse, according to a ‘snapshot’ report last week by the Institute for Government thinktank.
This has caused a dramatic rise in security costs. In the 2017–18 financial year, a total of £4.2m was spent on providing additional security assistance to MPs―more than £4m higher than the amount spent annually only two years ago. According to the Institute’s report, ‘deep political divisions over Brexit have contributed to many of these threats, but they have also been fuelled by the rise of social media’.
