Safety initiative right but depressing, says sister of murdered MP Jo Cox

Politicians’ safety is in a “much worse and less safe” state than it was in 2016 when Jo Cox was murdered, the late MP’s sister has warned as she said the establishment of a new national democracy protection unit was “right” but “depressing”.

Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Spen Valley since 2021, said she considered her career choice on a daily basis as politicians face “threats and abuse almost as a matter of course now”.

She said it was the “right decision” to offer police forces specialist support from a new initiative to assess those threats and protect MPs, regional mayors and councillors, but that she was saddened by the need for it.

The Government last month appointed a deputy chief constable from Cambridgeshire Police, Chris Balmer, as the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for defending democracy.

Ms Leadbeater told the Press Association: “I’ve been talking about this for 10 years since Joe was murdered, and having literally the same conversation I was having 10 years ago, but in an arguably much worse and less safe environment than it was then.

“So I just find it’s depressing, it’s saddening, and then also I’m angry that we haven’t done more to stop things getting worse.”

Ms Cox was murdered in 2016 by a right-wing extremist in her Yorkshire constituency during the European Union referendum campaign.

Reports of crimes against MPs have more than doubled since 2019, reaching almost 1,000 last year, according to NPCC data reported by The Times and BBC.

MPs reported 4,064 offences to the Metropolitan Police’s Parliamentary Liaison Team between 2019 and 2025 – with malicious communications, harassment, and criminal damage to a building the most commonly reported crimes, the outlets said.

Ms Leadbeater said that she, like other MPs, had “lots of contact with the police”, had extra security at her office and at home, and carried “two or three different safety devices” on her.

The threats and abuse had become “normalised” among parliamentarians and often had a more “profound impact” on their staff, families and friends, she said.

And especially considering what her family and Ms Cox’s children had been through, this led her to “think about whether I want to do this job every day”.

Safety concerns had a “deep impact on our democracy”, Ms Leadbeater warned, with good people leaving public life or not willing to enter it in the first place.

But, she said, it was “not just a political issue”, as she pointed to headlines on rising retail crime.

A senior boss at Marks & Spencer on Friday said staff were “worried about coming into work” as they were being subjected to violence and abuse every day, with one being taken to hospital after having ammonia thrown in their face in the past week.

Ms Leadbeater said: “All anybody wants is to go to work and feel safe, to do their job properly, and that is whether you are an MP, that’s whether you’re a taxi driver, a shop worker, a nurse, whoever you are.”

She also stressed that no MP “wants this to be about people feeling sorry for us”.

She added: “We’ve got a really privileged job and we’ve got important work to do, but I don’t want to spend my time as an MP talking about safety and security. I want to spend it trying to make a difference to people, trying to help people.”

Taxpayers should not have to stump up for extra protections for MPs, she also argued.

She said: “My big thing is looking at solutions and how to change the political culture and the political climate so that we don’t have to wrap elected people up in cotton wool, stop them seeing the public.”

Politics should become more “respectful” and avoid personal attacks, while media coverage should pivot from amplifying confrontation to consensus, she suggested.

And she criticised social media for the loss of nuanced debate and the spread of misinformation and disinformation.