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Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, has stated that MPs are now subjected to worse abuse and nastiness than when her sister, Jo Cox, was murdered by a terrorist in her constituency in 2016 in the lead-up to the Brexit referendum. Following calls for change in British politics following the incident, Leadbeater said there had been a reduction in people’s ability to “disagree well”. Appearing on the Political Thinking podcast with Nick Robinson, she stated that the level of abuse and malice in political debates had increased dramatically.
Leadbeater, who is now Batley and Spen’s MP, stated that her bill proposing assisted dying had exposed her to a degree of abuse that she had never before encountered. “I think we can have a civilised, respectful politics, and we can still disagree well and robustly and have proper passionate debate,” Leadbeater said. “But I just think sometimes we have lost that balance of disagreeing well and having that debate.”
Leadbeater went on to say: “Then it descends into personal insults, threats, abuse and intimidation – and that’s when I worry.” She added that she was having daily conversations about the issue with female colleagues from across the political spectrum. MPs are currently taking an interest in Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would grant people in certain circumstances the right to seek help to end their own lives.
Leadbeater stated that she knew her assisted dying bill would attract a lot of criticism, and she was unsurprised by the fact that it had exposed her to a level of abuse that she had never previously experienced. “The abuse is one thing, but it’s when people say things that are not true that I really struggle with,” she stated. The misinformation aspect of the issue was especially difficult to deal with, and Leadbeater said: “A lot of that takes place on social media where there’s no room for a nuanced debate.”
Last year, MPs backed Leadbeater’s bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales 330 votes to 275, representing the first time there has been a Commons vote on the contentious issue in almost a decade. While the bill has a long way to go, Leadbeater argued that it was essential that it was passed in the fairest way possible and was sympathetic to all views: “It is not just about passing the law, it’s about passing good law that achieves what we are trying to achieve but does not create other problems and takes into account everybody’s views,” she said. The bill’s committee will begin its first oral evidence session later this month
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