Female MPs call harassment an assault on democracy

Two re-elected female MPs have relayed in sober victory speeches the intimidation and harassment they faced during the general election campaign.

Jess Phillips spoke of regular calls to police and party workers being filmed in the street, while Shabana Mahmood said masked men had disrupted a community meeting, “terrifying” people in attendance.

Phillips, heckled during her speech, said the conditions meant the election had been the worst in which she had ever stood, with Mahmood calling the actions an “assault on democracy itself”.

While the Labour pair held their Birmingham seats, contributing to their party’s landslide victory, each saw their majorities diminish, with Phillips’ lead cut to 689 votes.

Both MPs faced competition in their constituencies by candidates who campaigned on pro-Palestine tickets.

Phillips narrowly beat Workers Party candidate Jody McIntyre to hold on to Yardley, while in Ladywood, Mahmood received about 3,000 votes more than second-place independent candidate and lawyer Akhmed Yakoob.

To shouts and booing from onlookers after the count, Phillips said: “I will carry on with my speech. I understand that a strong woman standing up to you is met with such reticence.”

She also recounted how a community activist came out to campaign with her, but was filmed by people in the streets and had her car’s tyres slashed.

“A young woman on her own delivering leaflets was filmed and screamed at by a much older man in the street,” she said.

Phillips also told the crowd that she was supposed to be joined by the family of slain MP Jo Cox on Thursday, who wanted to campaign with her.

“There is absolutely no way I could have allowed for them to see what was aggressive and violence in our democracy,” she said.

She went on to say that the country was “in desperate need and our politics [is] in even greater need of cleaning up and I thank everyone in this room for making a really good spectacle of proving that for me”.

She thanked West Midlands Police for taking “constant” phone calls from her.

Shabana Mahmood used her speech to relay how people had harassed her and her family during the election campaign, as well as people campaigning for her.

Ms Mahmood spoke of reports made to the police about physical threats and harassment as police officers lined the sides of the stage. She also thanked the police “who have had to go above and beyond to ensure a safe and secure election today”.

She stated: “A lot will be written about this campaign, and it should be. This was a campaign that was sullied by harassment and intimidation.”

She called the behaviour an “assault on democracy itself” and said it was “never acceptable to intimidate and threaten” people.

“British politics must soon wake up to what happened at this election,” she said.

“And let me make this clear because this matters deeply to me and my family: It is never acceptable to deny anyone their faith; to brand them an infidel.

“I know what a Muslim looks like, a Muslim looks like me. I know what Muslim values are and they are British values too – decency, respect, kindness.”