A day out with Labour MP Zarah Sultana reveals how she constantly has to think about her safety | Politics News
Zarah Sultana starts every event she attends the same way.
She has to log the date, location and time into a little mechanical device at each destination so security teams know where she is.
That way, if any danger were to occur, her colleagues and the parliamentary authorities can send support as quickly as possible.
She’s the Labour MP for Coventry South and the youngest Muslim MP ever elected in this country and believes this is partly the reason why this year – according to parliament’s own records – she’s the most at-risk MP online.
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Since the 7 October attacks by Hamas on Israel, there has been a noticeable uptick in the hatred and abuse she receives online and she says, ever since she has started talking about Palestinian rights, the abuse has come thick and fast.
Often when talking about abuse, out of politeness, we risk sanitising the words that people direct towards her. So I cautiously ask her whether she would mind being open about what life is like for her on an average day.
She candidly whips out her phone and rattles off some of the types of abuse she has to deal with.
“‘You should be deported b***h,” the first one reads.
“Go home to Pakistan,” another abuser writes.
Ms Sultana speaks into a device to let security teams know where she is
The last one before I stop her is the most shocking – it simply says: “Send that b***h to Palestine they are low on targets.”
I ask her why then she’s on social media at all. She insists it’s a crucial part of the job and it’s the most effective way to communicate with constituents as a young MP.
I’m accompanying her over 24 hours to see how these threats have impacted her, but in the process I’m amazed at how many security decisions she’s constantly making. She avoids public transport when she can, she’s thinking of any exits of every building she walks into in case of threats, and she is never alone on visits.
Out door-knocking with her and her team I casually mention that this is perhaps the most exposing part of being an MP.
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The Labour MP has acknowledged there is a risk when it comes to door-knocking
It involves knocking on strangers’ doors to ask for their vote. She accepts it’s part of the job but acknowledges the risks and says there have been times where she’s not been completely sure she was on solid ground in terms of her safety.
But she doesn’t want to let that get in the way of being an MP.
MP safety is a live issue and members’ duties have become more risky for members under threat.
Two MPs who were killed in their constituencies cast a long shadow.
Ms Sultana speaks at a refugee wellbeing centre in her constituency
Jo Cox was brutally murdered in 2016 and Sir David Amess was fatally stabbed five years later.
The risks are very real to sitting members of the House of Commons and for some MPs they see that risk as too high.
Mike Freer, a Conservative MP whose office was targeted in an arson attack on Christmas Eve last year, said he would be standing down at the next election, citing safety concerns as the reason.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak railed against “extremist forces trying to tear us apart” during a Downing Street address to the nation just over a week ago.
Parliamentary authorities say that safety is fundamental to democracy and offer a range of security measures for members.
More at risk MPs are entitled to more offerings and the security minister has said private cars have been given to some female MPs significantly at risk.
Ms Sultana is now upping her security – something needed even more as she starts campaigning to keep her seat in Coventry South.
