Milton Keynes MP receives death and rape threats, warning political violence is getting worse
Emily Darlington MP said "somebody threatened to murder me and another female MP"
The MP for Milton Keynes Central has said she will not be silenced after receiving death and rape threats on social media which are aimed to intimidate.
Emily Darlington, Labour MP for Milton Keynes Central said: “Being a very public official who takes on a lot of issues around violence against women and girls, respect, and standing up for Milton Keynes, really does give you an interesting response online, including death threats and including rape threats.
“Too often I'll report them and then won't get taken down because they're in the spirit of free speech.”
“Somebody threatened to murder me and another female MP, and we need these things to be taken seriously”, she adds.
Politically motivated murders of MP’s have been seen twice in the past decade, with the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016 and Conservative MP Sir David Amess in 2021.
Ms Darlington worries “we've seen these turn into real life examples”.
She said: “I often have a security detail with me or the local police when I go to events. It takes a lot of resources and it's not the way I would like to conduct myself.
“I'm a very open person. I love meeting people. I love talking to people. So, it does limit my activities and that's exactly what it's meant to do. It's meant to intimidate me to stop raising issues.
She added: “I'll continue to raise issues because that's my job as an MP to be a voice for people who feel they don't have a voice.”
The Labour MP also feels political violence, or the threat of it, is “definitely getting worse”.
“We need to put a stop to it and get back to being able to debate issues without threatening each other.”
Adding: “We are seeing a level of threat currently of politicians, particularly
female and BME politicians, we haven't seen that before in our history.
“That’s quite dangerous to democracy.”