Scale of Senedd member abuse revealed after minister announces intention to delete X account
This week a Welsh government minister announced he would delete his X account once he steps back from his transport role, after facing significant abuse on social media.
Lee Waters, the Welsh government’s deputy minister for climate change, said he would now receive “a pile of malign comments for even the most innocuous posts”.
Sky News has spoken to a number of members of the Welsh parliament about their own experiences.
Hannah Blythyn. File pic: Welsh government
‘Impact on people around me’
Hannah Blythyn has been a member of the Senedd for eight years and has been the Welsh Labour government’s deputy minister for social partnership since 2021.
Since being elected, Ms Blythyn told Sky News she has had to “reflect” on her life.
“If I wasn’t a politician, I don’t think I’d have cameras on my house, so it’s directly connected to the role that I do,” she said.
Ms Blythyn says she made a decision when first elected “to be open about [her] sexuality” as a lesbian.
“I’ve been open to my friends and family for years, and I thought it was really important, as somebody who grew up thinking I didn’t have anybody I could identify with or nobody visible in public life to provide that visibility myself,” she said.
“But I think, with that comes a cost as well, to an extent.”
One member of the public emailed Ms Blythyn, saying she “should seek conversion therapy“.
“The worst for me I think…[was] it’s impact on the people around me,” she added.
“So this same person also contacted my wife. I found out later they’d also tried to contact my dad and contact a number of other people about me.”
Jane Dodds. File pic: PA
‘Rather scared’
Jane Dodds has been leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats since 2017 and has been a member of the Senedd since 2021.
Ms Dodds says she came off Facebook two years ago and recently handed responsibility for her X account over to her team due to its impact on her mental health.
She told Sky News she has received death threats and reported to the police one comment on Facebook which said she should be “hanged”.
During the pandemic, a vote on introducing COVID passes for nightclubs and large events was held in the Senedd.
After the vote, Ms Dodds said that around 80 anti-vax protesters surrounded her car as she left the building. She told Sky News the incident left her feeling “rather scared”.
“I was the first to leave the Senedd after the vote and we came out of the car park and they saw the car coming out and they ran towards us and ran around, shouting and put things on the car,” she said.
Ms Dodds was first elected to Westminster in 2019 for four months but lost her seat in the general election that December.
Having served as a member in both Cardiff Bay and the Commons, Ms Dodds says her brief time as an MP led her to conclude that Westminster creates an “anti-politician environment” and an unsafe atmosphere.
Sioned Williams. File pic: Plaid Cymru
‘Would I want my daughter in this role?’
Sioned Williams has been a member of the Senedd since 2021 and is Plaid Cymru‘s equalities spokesperson.
She told Sky News she had experienced abuse in the past and that the threat of danger was “always there”.
“Sometimes I do ask myself, would I want my daughter to be in this role, would I want my sister to be in this role,” Ms Williams said.
“And when you’re trying to really encourage women to come forward as candidates, there is a little voice in your head as well that’s a little bit worried about what you’re doing because you know what they’re going to face.”
Ms Williams said she had taken steps to “adapt her home” since being elected.
“I lock the doors now when I’m at home, I never used to before. That kind of thing. I’m always conscious about keeping the car doors locked when I’m in the car,” she said.
“I never would have dreamt of doing that before, the camera on the doorbell. I know lots of people have to do that but it’s specifically because I’m a politician that I’m having to take those measures.
“You just have to because of the level of abuse that you do get. I can deal with people disagreeing with my views, that’s what politics is, but it’s the gendered abuse that you get back that is worrying.”
Natasha Asghar. File pic: PA
‘Thankful to those before me’
Natasha Asghar was first elected as a member of the Senedd for the Welsh Conservatives in 2021.
She is the first woman of colour to be a member of the Welsh parliament.
Ms Asghar told Sky News that since her election she had been “fortunate” not to have faced much abuse until a recent incident when giving a talk to students.
“It was a really difficult time and it was probably the first time in my career that not just myself, where I felt unsafe, but I felt unsafe and scared for my team as well, which is very important to me,” she said.
“Because ultimately, they are the ones who I work with day in, day out, and if something happens to me, they’re usually in the front line as well.”
Ms Asghar’s father was Mohammad Asghar, who served as a Senedd member from 2007 until his death in 2020.
Up until his death, Ms Asghar said her father “experienced awful hate [on social media] from people from all over the place”.
“And the things that they said were not only against him, his politics, but him as a person, his religion, his family. Everything got slated, and he just took it,” she added.
“I’m very fortunate, but I know those before me equally had a very rough ride, so I’m thankful to them for tolerating what they tolerated.”
File pic: Samuel Kurtz
‘Difficult to stomach’
Samuel Kurtz is another of the 2021 Tory intake of Senedd members.
He told Sky News that he “quite regularly” experiences trolling online.
“It does impact on your wellbeing when you see someone coming and attacking you personally rather than professionally,” he said.
“That’s quite difficult to stomach, and especially for family members who have to read that.
“I’ve had incidents of my mum ringing me up, going ‘Who’s this and why are they saying this about you?’
“And I’m like ‘Mum, don’t worry about it, it’s trolling, it’s someone anonymous. No idea who they are, they just get their kicks from doing that so don’t worry’.
“But that’s a difficult conversation to have with my mum and it’s most probably a difficult thing for a mother to see for her son. Unfortunately, that’s just the age of social media.”
Mr Kurtz said he hadn’t experienced much abuse face-to-face.
“I did have one incident where I was just opening the door in my office to leave while someone was trying to open it to come in and they did, and then they started berating me around COVID vaccines,” he said.
“I didn’t feel personally threatened, but with some of the language that they were using, sort of ‘traitor’, ‘blood on your hands’, you don’t want to hear that.”
Vikki Howells. Pic: Welsh Labour
‘Don’t feel safe’
Vikki Howells has been a Senedd member since 2016 and is the Welsh Labour group leader.
She told Sky News that “every female politician” she knows had experienced some form of gender-related abuse.
“Lots of female politicians have faced rape threats, lots have faced threats of violence which perhaps would not be directed towards them if they were male,” she said.
“I do know of politicians within the Senedd who’ve faced those threats.”
Ms Howells said that female politicians especially can feel “physically vulnerable when [they’re] out in public”.
“If you’re leaving a meeting in the dark and there’s no one else around, the worry that people might know who you are and there could be someone who’s following you,” she added.
“It’s not just me, I’ve spoken to a number of female MSs who don’t feel particularly safe in and around Cardiff Bay after dark.”
Ms Howells said she once received a comment on social media that she “should be dragged through the streets by [her] hair”.
But she said she “wouldn’t want women to be put off going into politics as a result of the actions of a minority”.
“We’ve got really talented women in Welsh Labour and we need to do all we can to make sure that they feel that they can put their names forward if they want to, and not face a barrage of abuse,” she added.
Read more:
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A spokesperson for the Senedd Commission said it takes “the safety and welfare of all members, staff and other stakeholders seriously”.
“Members of the Senedd and their support staff can access a comprehensive range of equipment, guidance and support from the Senedd security team, and this is kept under constant review in response to evolving challenges,” the spokesperson added.
“Training on a range of security matters (such as online security and personal safety) is also available to members and their staff.”
An alleged attack by the Manchester Arena bomb plotter on prison officers at a high-security jail “will stick with” those impacted “for the rest of their lives”, a former officer and colleague of the victims has said.
Hashem Abedi is accused of violently assaulting officers at HMP Frankland in Durham last weekend, using hot cooking oil and an improvised, or homemade, weapon.
He was serving his sentence in a separation unit, known as a “jail within a jail”, after being found guilty of 22 counts of murder for helping his brother Salman Abedi carry out a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017.
The attack has raised fresh questions about the safety of prison staff.
Inmates inside separation units had access to cooking facilities, which has now been suspended.
Abedi was moved back to Belmarsh after the alleged attack
‘It will stick with them for life’
Matthew, who only wants to be referred to by his first name, worked with the officers who were hospitalised following the attack.
“I’ve spoken to ex-colleagues who I’m still friends with,” he told Sky News.
“They’ve not discussed the specifics of the incident, but they’ve said it will stick with them for the rest of their lives.”
Matthew broke down as he described the “obscene” and “ludicrous” levels of violence that staff face inside prison.
He’s worked at a number of different jails.
“I’ve been there when you’re mopping your colleagues’ blood… when you’ve seen a serious assault, and you don’t know if they’re gonna be OK, and then 10 minutes later, you’ve got to get back on with your day, you’ve got to carry on running the regime,” he said.
“It is difficult, and it is awful.”
Matthew worked with the officers who were hospitalised
‘No adequate protection’
There were 10,496 assaults against prison staff in England and Wales in the 12 months to September – a 19% rise on the previous year.
“The reality is there’s no adequate protections for prison staff, and that’s a great frustration,” the general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association union, Steve Gillan, told Sky News.
Having visited HMP Frankland earlier in the week, and spoken to many of the officers who were involved, Mr Gillan described the mood among colleagues as one of “anger, frustration, and sadness”.
The association, which represents prison officers, is calling for a “reset” – and for staff to be given stab-proof vests and tasers in “certain circumstances”.
Read more:
Prisons now 98.9% full
Fewer criminals to be jailed
Steve Gillan
‘The entire system needs to change’
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she shared “the country’s shock and anger” at the attack.
The government has launched a review that will look at how it was able to happen, and will also consider how separation centres are run.
The Prison Service is also conducting a “snap” review into whether protective body armour should be available to frontline staff.
But ex-officer Matthew said “nobody is ever truly safe” in the prison service, with staff facing “impossible challenges every day”.
“The entire system needs to change,” he added. “From the ground up.”
Unwary travellers returning from the EU risk having their sandwiches and local delicacies, such as cheese, confiscated as they enter the UK.
The luggage in which they are carrying their goodies may also be seized and destroyed – and if Border Force catch them trying to smuggle meat or dairy products without a declaration, they could face criminal charges.
The new jeopardy has come about because last weekend, the government quietly “extended” its “ban on personal meat imports to protect farmers from foot and mouth”.
This may or may not be bureaucratic over-reaction.
It’s certainly just another of the barriers EU and UK authorities are busily throwing up between each other and their citizens – at a time when political leaders keep saying the two sides should be drawing together in the face of Donald Trump’s attacks on European trade and security.
Keir Starmer’s been embarking on a reset with European leaders. Pic: Reuters
The ban on bringing back “cattle, sheep, goat, and pig meat, as well as dairy products, from EU countries into Great Britain for personal use” is meant “to protect the health of British livestock, the security of farmers, and the UK’s food security.”
There are bitter memories of previous outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in this country, in 1967 and 2001.
In 2001, there were more than 2,000 confirmed cases of infection resulting in six million sheep and cattle being destroyed. Footpaths were closed across the nation and the general election had to be delayed.
In the EU this year, there have been five cases confirmed in Slovakia and four in Hungary. There was a single outbreak in Germany in January, though Defra, the UK agriculture department, says that’s “no longer significant”.
The UK imposed bans on personal meat and dairy imports from those countries, and Austria, earlier this year.
Authorities carry disinfectant near a farm in Dunakiliti, Hungary. Pic: Reuters
Better safe than sorry?
None of the cases of infection are in the three most popular countries for UK visitors – Spain, France, and Italy – now joining the ban. Places from which travellers are most likely to bring back a bit of cheese, salami, or chorizo.
Could the government be putting on a show to farmers that it’s on their side at the price of the public’s inconvenience, when its own measures on inheritance tax and failure to match lost EU subsidies are really doing the farming community harm?
Many will say it’s better to be safe than sorry, but the question remains whether the ban is proportionate or even well targeted on likely sources of infection.
Read more: The products you can’t bring into Britain from the EU
No more gourmet chorizo brought back from Spain for you. File pic: iStock
A ‘Brexit benefit’? Don’t be fooled
The EU has already introduced emergency measures to contain the disease where it has been found. Several thousand cattle in Hungary and Slovenia have been vaccinated or destroyed.
The UK’s ability to impose the ban is not “a benefit of Brexit”. Member nations including the UK were perfectly able to ban the movement of animals and animal products during the “mad cow disease” outbreak in the 1990s, much to the annoyance of the British government of the day.
Since leaving the EU, England, Scotland and Wales are no longer under EU veterinary regulation.
Northern Ireland still is because of its open border with the Republic. The latest ban does not cover people coming into Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, or the Isle of Man.
Rather than introducing further red tape of its own, the British government is supposed to be seeking closer “alignment” with the EU on animal and vegetable trade – SPS or “sanitary and phytosanitary” measures, in the jargon.
A ban on cheese? That’s anything but cracking. Pic: iStock
UK can’t shake ties to EU
The reasons for this are obvious and potentially make or break for food producers in this country.
The EU is the recipient of 67% of UK agri-food exports, even though this has declined by more than 5% since Brexit.
The introduction of full, cumbersome, SPS checks has been delayed five times but are due to come in this October. The government estimates the cost to the industry will be £330m, food producers say it will be more like £2bn.
With Brexit, the UK became a “third country” to the EU, just like the US or China or any other nation. The UK’s ties to the European bloc, however, are much greater.
Half of the UK’s imports come from the EU and 41% of its exports go there. The US is the UK’s single largest national trading partner, but still only accounts for around 17% of trade, in or out.
The difference in the statistics for travellers are even starker – 77% of trips abroad from the UK, for business, leisure or personal reasons, are to EU countries. That is 66.7 million visits a year, compared to 4.5 million or 5% to the US.
And that was in 2023, before Donald Trump and JD Vance’s hostile words and actions put foreign visitors off.
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Trump: ‘Europe is free-loading’
More bureaucratic botheration
Meanwhile, the UK and the EU are making travel between them more bothersome for their citizens and businesses.
This October, the EU’s much-delayed EES or Entry Exit System is due to come into force. Every foreigner will be required to provide biometric information – including fingerprints and scans – every time they enter or leave the Schengen area.
From October next year, visitors from countries including the UK will have to be authorised in advance by ETIAS, the European Travel and Authorisation System. Applications will cost seven euros and will be valid for three years.
Since the beginning of this month, European visitors to the UK have been subject to similar reciprocal measures. They must apply for an ETA, an Electronic Travel Authorisation. This lasts for two years or until a passport expires and costs £16.
The days of freedom of movement for people, goods, and services between the UK and its neighbours are long gone.
The British economy has lost out and British citizens and businesses suffer from greater bureaucratic botheration.
Nor has immigration into the UK gone down since leaving the EU. The numbers have actually gone up, with people from Commonwealth countries, including India, Pakistan and Nigeria, more than compensating for EU citizens who used to come and go.
Editor’s note: Hands off my focaccia sandwiches with prosciutto! Pic: iStock
Will European reset pay off?
The government is talking loudly about the possible benefits of a trade “deal” with Trump’s America.
Meanwhile, minister Nick Thomas Symonds and the civil servant Mike Ellam are engaged in low-profile negotiations with Europe – which could be of far greater economic and social significance.
The public will have to wait to see what progress is being made at least until the first-ever EU-UK summit, due to take place on 19 May this year.
Hard-pressed British food producers and travellers – not to mention young people shut out of educational opportunities in Europe – can only hope that Sir Keir Starmer considers their interests as positively as he does sucking up to the Trump administration.
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