Three female MPs have been given bodyguards and chauffeur-driven cars after concerns about their safety, it was reported. Representatives of the Conservative and Labour parties had their security upgraded after a risk assessment, according to the Sunday Times.
The MPs, who have not been named, have been given close protection by private companies and chauffeur-driven vehicles. “Many MPs are petrified by the abuse they are facing,” a senior security source told the newspaper.
Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, is understood to have been working with the Home Office, police chiefs and parliamentary authorities to bolster the safety and security of MPs.
A new process has been introduced in recent weeks in which the royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec), responsible for the security of the royal family and senior politicians, has been deployed to help assess the threat to MPs, according to the Sunday Times.
It comes after Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, recently warned of the growing threat to politicians from the far right.
Hoyle also spoke of his deep concern about the security of MPs being a factor in his decision on Wednesday to break with precedent and allow Labour to table a vote during an SNP debate calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
He told MPs: “I will defend every member in this House. Both sides, I never ever want to go through a situation where I pick up a phone to find a friend, whatever side, has been murdered by terrorists. I also don’t want an attack on this House.”
Hoyle added: “The details of the things that have been brought to me are absolutely frightening. I am guilty because I have a duty of care that I will carry out to protect people. It is the protection that led me to make the wrong decision.”
Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in 2016 by the far-right extremist Thomas Mair in Birstall, West Yorkshire, after a constituency meeting.
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Conservative MP Sir David Amess was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in 2021 by Ali Harbi Ali, an Islamic State sympathiser.
