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On October 15, 2021, Sir David Ames, a British Conservative MP who had long served in Southend West, Essex, was attacked and killed by a knife during a constituency operation in a local church.
The police later announced that this was a terrorist attack, arrested the suspect and are investigating the cause. As Britain begins to accept his murder, people worry about whether MPs are adequately protected to complete their work and why these attacks continue to occur.
The last such attack occurred in 2016, when Bartley and Spoon’s MP Joe Cox was murdered by a far-right activist. In 2010, Congressman Stephen Timms survived an assassination attempt when he was stabbed in two places in the abdomen by a woman who claimed to have been radicalized by al-Qaeda.
For many years, parliamentarians have been the target of dissatisfaction.
At one level that is unsurprising, as they are elected representatives of their local communities, and are visible leaders who debate and vote on a whole range of national policies. Contact as part of its work.
Ironically, Sir David and Joe Cox did exactly this when they were murdered. In both cases, both politicians were meeting with locals to try to help resolve their concerns.
Obviously there was a problem.
The erosion of trust
Members of Congress are often subjected to insults, hate emails, and death threats, but murder is definitely the worst-case scenario. The hostility to elected officials is complex and multi-layered. They must deal with potentially unpopular policies, including their stance on foreign wars, if not directly, through links with wider parties.
The weakening of trust in the political class may be driven by a variety of factors. Some may be imagined from a conspiracy theory in a niche forum, others may be caused by, for example, the economic crisis in 2008, the spending scandal exposed by parliamentarians for misuse of public funds in 2009, the divisive nature of Brexit, or the The depression and frustration of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. All of this, coupled with the adversarial traditional media landscape and social media echo chamber, can create the impression that legislators are liars, do not listen to the people they represent, are lazy and selfish.
However, this is an unfair and unaware description of the elected representatives.
The reality is that most parliamentarians work very hard on field issues with the local community, holding constituency surgeries in the form of face-to-face meetings in parking lots, supermarkets, community centers, and, yes, local churches.
Members of parliament also often need to work in several different locations to cope with time pressure, focusing on complex policy issues in parliament. During the week, meetings and committees may be held late at night. Then on Friday, they have to return to their constituency, and some commute to the other side of the country every week to deal with local cases and participate in community events on weekends. They usually have a small team to help, and they have limited personal protection when they are outside the council.
This is a noble job, and most parliamentarians did not suffer all the sacrifices and pressures for financial returns (frankly speaking, most people earn more in the private sector), but because they care about their people and their country .
Attack on democracy
This problem affects more than just the MPs, their overworked and often under-recognised staff have even less protection than the elected officials. Districts and local governments are also at risk, including thousands of parliamentarians and local officials who are in close contact with the public.
In June, the house of Graeme Campbell, a Conservative MP representing South Lanarkshire near Glasgow, caught fire. New rules are now enacted to ensure the privacy of members’ addresses to ensure their safety.
These regular threats to public officials are attacks on democracy.
As a former parliamentary candidate, I was shocked by the viciousness of the hatred of strangers online and face to face. Although politicians need to be thick-skinned, it can prevent kind and talented people from entering politics. If politicians are unable to meet with voters organically due to security agreements and are replaced by security checks and reservations, then this may also make our political system more remote.
British Home Secretary Priti Patel (Priti Patel) has now ordered an immediate security review of all MPs. This may provide more police protection for elected officials during public participation. How the government responds to the deeper challenges of national security issues such as cyber radicalization and extremism, as well as taking practical measures to resist seemingly random and lone wolf attacks, will take longer.
It is never possible to completely eliminate the risks involved in the work of parliamentarians. Although some parliamentarians advocate stopping all face-to-face interactions before the review is completed, most parliamentarians, including several ministers, are still reluctant to set up barriers between politicians and the public.
The goal of democratic operation is to be with the people, but members of Congress and their staff should be able to do this safely and fearlessly. There is no simple solution, but the least we can do is thank our parliamentarians for their hard work for the benefit of their communities.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
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