And there's been more protests in
different towns and cities around the
country over hotels housing asylum
seekers. There's also concerns that the
debate is becoming more toxic with MPs
reporting a surge in abuse and violent
threats. Uh I'm joined now by Labour MP
Dr. Rub Huck and our political
correspondent Amanda Aass is here with
us. Thanks for joining us today. We'll
get to you very shortly. But I thought
Amanda, if you could just set out what
we're seeing over the the rise of
protest that started at the Eping Hotel
in Essex, spread across the country, and
now MPs of course are reporting more
incidents of abuse online.
>> Yes. Well, it's been an incredibly
divisive summer, I think, in terms of
the discussion around what to do about
the record numbers of small boat
arrivals, the record number of asylum
claims, people still in asylum hotels,
those numbers going up despite the fact
the government have pledged to end the
use of hotels for asylum seekers by
2029. Um, clearly there's a big backlog.
The Home Office say they've made
progress in trying to get through the
initial decisions, but there's an issue
with the appeal system. So, the
government's response to all of the
anger that we've been seeing recently,
these protests um outside hotels
yesterday was to make um an announcement
about reforming the appeal system to try
and get people through more quickly. Um
that's been criticized in some quarters
by Lord Blunkett, for example, former
Labour home secretary saying, "Well,
that's not really having a clear
narrative. It's not radical enough to
deal with the situation." But clearly,
there's a lot of um division around
this. And we've seen some MPs reporting
an increase in in abuse um particularly
online. Um given the kind of tox
toxicity of the debate around this
color, the green MP talking about the
fact that the far right feels emboldened
and validated by other political parties
dancing to their tune. She says the
abuse she's been sent has got noticeably
worse in the last few months, escalating
in some cases to violent threats. The
Guardian today um reporting uh one MP
being sent online rape threats um and
increasing death threats as well. And of
course we've seen um terrible terrible
um outcomes of previous uh kind of toxic
um language against MPs. So so this is
very concerning.
>> So that's the lie of the land. That's a
story. Um Labour MP Ruper Huck is here
listening to all that. What's your
experience online as an MP, as a woman,
as a woman of color um to reports of
bullying, toxicity? What's it been like?
>> Yeah, I mean look, I've been an MP for
10 years now. I've done four general
elections and I do think the climate has
changed. I mean if you think about I
don't know a program like the crown
there are certain people MPs royals that
used to have a degree of deference and
in a way it's good that that's broken
down but in some ways if everyone is
fair game that's a bad thing as well. I
think people just have to get a grip uh
because you know since when was it all
right to just abuse MPs and the uh
incident that's happened to my colleague
Anna Dixon is really shocking because
it's by another MP as well who should
know better.
>> For viewers who don't know about that
tell us what happened.
>> Yeah so um I think actually we live in
an era also of clickbait. So before
people would make a speech in the House
of Commons and develop an argument
whereas now people just sort of chop
them up and then put them in a video.
So, a video was circulating blaming my
colleague for not voting against a
grooming gang's inquiry. I mean, the
facts of it are completely different
because it was a Tory wrecker amendment
to a bill. It's not like she stopped.
Anyway, never let the facts get in the
way. So, these um little clips get
spliced up into a video and it gets
shared by a Tory MP who's sort of
enjoying it and then as a result, she
gets death threats over this long
weekend and it's completely
unacceptable. Where do you think the
buck falls when it comes to protecting
MPs um and making sure that you know you
feel safe going to work doing your job?
>> Yeah, I think it's a multi-pronged
approach. I mean obviously social media
has ramped this right up um and so the
platforms I actually sit on this
committee uh that the speaker of the
House of Commons has set up. So it's
good these things are being taken
seriously. But it's it's not right that
you can hide behind some online alias
that nobody knows who you are. Do you
know what I mean? these sort of things
now spread like wildfire and also I just
think people have to get a grip. There's
obviously problems that need resolving
but these sort of click baity it just
feels like people do things for clicks
and shares and instant gratification and
it's all being fed by a culture wars
thing at the same time. So there's a lot
of things going on here
>> and what's your been your experience
online? Have you received threats or
what's it been like for you? I mean I
have I um I mean the most recent one
somebody was locked up for goodness me
this was uh some and it's often our
staff who are the front line. So every
MP behind every MP there's a team of
people that are working really hard to
make them look good. So it was a member
of my staff who
>> had to pick up 17 really horrible
voicemails and it was a bloke. It turned
out that I hadn't got him the council
house that he wanted and things are
easier said than done. And so uh he was
detained I think near Heathrow. They
found him. They and then he was made to
sign on every day at the local Nick
which actually is not that far from
where I live. But the point is we need
to protect our staff as well cuz they're
often young 20some people. They come
into politics. They're idealists. They
want to make us look good and then they
get the brunt of all this.
>> Um so yeah I think the I think it's a
multi-pronged thing. So partly it's the
platforms can't let themselves be open
to abuse like this and I guess the um
Elon Muskifiization
of Twitter has helped that a lot. The
algorithms change so if you look at one
nasty thing you start looking at loads
of them but it's also the general public
as well have to maybe maybe it's the hot
weather, maybe it's August, everyone's
getting a bit over excited, get a grip.
>> And how does it compare to Brexit? We
obviously saw a lot of toxicity online
surrounding that. Is this worse than
that? Um Brexit was a sustained thing
over couple of years really. I think
that whole 2017 to9 parliament. Um I
mean I'm hoping this is a temporary
summer phenomenon and uh I remember gosh
as long ago as the 1981 Brixton Toxith
riots. It was a load of rain that
stopped these crazy protests going on.
Um, so you know, some of the things
we're seeing, you've been reporting them
at hotels and things. Uh, I don't know
if it's just August people. I mean,
look, there are real issues that need
resolving as I say, but this sort of
lynch mob mentality is not the right way
to go about doing that.
>> Okay, we'll leave it there. Rupark,
thanks for joining us um, in the studio
this morning. appreciate it.