Amid abuse, apathy and mistrust, who would become an MP?

MP Ashley Dalton speaks during PMQs at the House of Commons, 20 March 2024.

Whenever the next general election takes place, hundreds will battle to become an MP, and 650 will succeed.

But amid scandals, abuse, threats of violence - and with voter apathy and mistrust going through the roof - who on earth would want the job?

MP Katherine Fletcher, from Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, says "it's the best job in the world" but warns "you do need stamina to do it."

Fellow Lancashire MP Ashley Dalton adds: "It's never boring".

MP Katherine Fletcher

Becoming an MP can involve weeks of campaigning, knocking on doors and leafleting.

And if candidates get elected, the hours can be long, and the politicians will find themselves spending most of the week away from home.

But Ms Fletcher says should we shouldn't feel sorry for them.

She says: "You're working weekends, often seven days a week, but that's no different from people, say, in the building trade who work away in the week."

Ms Fletcher was the 523rd woman ever to be elected to Westminster.

She was brought up in a family that wasn't particularly political.

But in 2013 that changed.

"I was shouting at the telly all the time, and thought sod it I'm going to try to make a difference," she says.

Six years later she won her South Ribble seat for the Conservatives.

'A privilege'

Ms Dalton is one of the region's newest MPs, elected to represent West Lancashire in a by-election in 2023.

On her website, she describes herself as a mum, a carer, a cancer survivor and a Lancashire lass.

She was adopted as a baby and brought up in Leyland in what she describes as a working class family.

How much of that has fed into her desire for a life in public service?

"Pretty much all of it," she says.

"You stand on a podium and say, 'Vote for me please!' To do it properly you have to bring your whole self."

She also cares for her elderly parents, after her father suffered a stroke.

"I had to make a decision: do I still want to pursue this political career?

"And both my parents said, 'Yes, absolutely!'

"It is difficult, but it is such a privilege."

'Panto'

Often the only time most of us see our MPs at work in Westminster is during the weekly, televised Prime Minister's Questions.

Ms Fletcher admits it can be a theatrical spectacle, but says it has a vital role to play.

"Please don't think we behave like that all the time - but for half an hour a week it's the panto," she says.

The threat of physical violence and harassment against are parliamentarians looms large.

Two MPs, David Amess and Jo Cox, have been murdered in the past decade.

As for harassment and abuse, in 2021 the then-leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, told a debate that "male MPs simply do not get the level of violent and personal abuse that women get".

And in 2022, analysis by Amnesty International found that women MPs from black, Asian and and other ethnic minority backgrounds received far more online abuse in the run up to the 2017 general election than their white colleagues did.

Many constituency surgeries are now by appointment-only.

Rosie Cooper who stood down as Labour MP for West Lancashire

For some it has become too much.

Mike Freer, the justice minister and Conservative MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said "a constant string of incidents" including death threats, abuse and narrow escapes had led him to decide to stand down at the next election.

Ms Dalton's predecessor in West Lancashire, Rosie Cooper, was the target of a murder plot .

She stood down last year admitting "events I have faced have taken their toll".

At the last count, 98 MPs have announced they won't be seeking re-election - for a host of different reasons.

But Ms Dalton isn't ready to give up what she calls her "dream job" just yet.

"When people use abuse, they're trying to stop you having your voice," she says. "I will not sit down, I will not shut up.

"I am going stand up and speak out."