When I became the Member of Parliament for Wrexham, I knew that I would be subject to scrutiny, something that is rightly expected of an MP. However, there is a line between scrutiny and abuse: being called a "scum c**t", frequently, crosses that line.
Or to take another example, recently, one user called me the ‘Goebbels of Chester’ after I asked a question in the Chamber about an the Ajax programme. Likening me to the Nazi anti-Semite, simply for scrutinising a Government defence programme, shows that trolls have no regard for being factually correct ‑ since I am the MP for Wrexham, not Chester ‑ and that they desire to instigate hatred toward me for doing my job and questioning Government.
This comment followed continuous online harassment by this user, which continued even after they had been blocked. If this had been in person it would have been called out as harassment and dealt with accordingly. In the world of Twitter, however, such a response is usually not so forthcoming.
Sadly, the abuse and threats that I have received are not uncommon. Only today, further details about the abuse the Labour MP for Canterbury, Rosie Duffield MP, have been reported widely and I know that other female colleagues on both sides of the House have faced similar abuse, my brilliant North Wales colleague Virginia Crosbie MP being another example.
As such, I have taken the decision to leave Twitter. Going forward, constituents will still be able to contact me on [email protected] and I will continue to provide updates via my website, here on my Facebook and in my monthly e-newsletter.
