Attacks on politicians whipped up by abuse, MP Charlotte Nichols says

Ms Nichols said politicians needed to lead by example and model "a good kind of debate"

A Labour MP who has been physically assaulted and had someone come to her office armed with a knife has said she believes much of what she has faced "has been whipped up by things online".

Warrington North's Charlotte Nichols said "clear laws" were needed to deal with "online harassment".

A BBC investigation found MPs received thousands of abusive tweets.

Fellow MP Angela Rayner, who has had death threats, said there was "no excuse" for online abuse.

The deputy Labour leader, who represents Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, said she agreed with what Ms Nichols had said and it was her experience that online abuse "comes in waves".

BBC analysis of three million tweets aimed at MPs over a six-week period found more than 130,000, about one in 20, could be classed as toxic.

Ms Nichols received more than 11,000 messages in the period, 8.3% of which were found to be toxic, while 4% of the 83,000 tweets Ms Rayner was sent were abusive.

Other North-West MPs had similar percentages, with 4.5% of the messages sent to Ribble Valley's Conservative representative Nigel Evans being abusive, 4.3% of those sent to both Labour's Andrew Gwynne and Alison McGovern, who represent Denton and Reddish and Wirral South, and 4.8% of those sent to Angela Eagle, the Labour MP for Wallasey.

'Good kind of debate'

Ms Nichols told BBC North West Tonight that she believed the online abuse had led to consequences in real life.

"I've had someone come to my office with a knife before [and] I've had physical violence against me," she said, adding she had stepped up security at both her home and her office.

"A lot of that has been whipped up by things that have been online."

She said that there was a "need to have clear laws, particularly around online harassment", but added that politicians had to lead by example.

"I think ultimately that all of us in some form of public life, whether it's in the council chamber or the chamber in Westminster, need to be modelling a good kind of debate that is based on policies and not on personal attacks," she said.

Ms Rayner said the online abuse caused "significant harm"

Ms Nichols has previously spoken about how she has been targeted since winning her seat at the 2019 general election.

She said at the time that she was "horrified" by the "extent and severity" of anti-Semitic and homophobic abuse she had received both online and in the post.

Ms Rayner said she had received repeated abuse, including "very derogatory language", sexist remarks, threats against her children and being called "stupid and thick" because of her Manchester accent.

She said there was "no excuse or no place" for such comments in political debate and they caused "significant harm".

"These comments about my personal attributes and who I am as an individual, as opposed to policy, are the things that really worry me," she added.

Twitter has previously said it is committed to combatting abuse as outlined in its Hateful Conduct Policy.

The company has also previously pointed out it has a much more open platform than other social media companies, which allows researchers to "enhance and research the public conversation".

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