Ayrshire MSP blames 'horrific' abuse as main reason for stepping away

An Ayrshire MSP admits walking away from politics after just one term due to ‘personal and sexist’ abuse has left her feeling sad.

Elena Whitham will stand down from her role as MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley following the Scottish Government elections in 2026.

Ms Whitham - who was previously a councillor with East Ayrshire Council - only became an MSP in 2021 but says the continued remarks over her appearance and ability to do the job have become too much.

She joins other female MSPs who are speaking out about online abuse they have suffered, with one Labour frontbencher revealing she has been branded a "poisoned dwarf" and a Tory told she would be "set alight".

Ms Whitham said: “Before being an MSP at Holyrood, I was a local councillor, I was deputy leader of East Ayrshire Council, and some of the decisions I took were not pleasing to everybody.

“But the abuse I took for that was horrific, and a lot of it was based in quite sexist language and comment.

“If you think about the abuse that male politicians get, it is very different to what female politicians get.

“A lot of the abusive comments that were made to me online were roundabout my looks.”

Labour education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy said that online abuse had been "utterly relentless", and she has been called a "poisoned dwarf", "witch" and "lying c***".

Ms Duncan-Glancy spoke out about the abuse as Holyrood magazine found almost all the MSPs it questioned had experienced some form of online abuse.

This included rape threats, death threats and severe misogynistic abuse, the magazine said.

It contacted all 59-sitting female MSPs and received responses from 22 of them between January 29 and February 25 this year.

More than three quarters of the MSPs who responded said the abuse had become worse after they were first elected.

Conservative MSP Annie Wells told the magazine that she had been told she would be "set alight".

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie described social media as a "sewer", and said the problem of abuse was "worse for female politicians".

Alba MSP Ash Regan expressed concern that abuse of female politicians had become "more socially acceptable" and risked being "left ignored".

Of those female MSPs standing again in the 2026 Holyrood election, about three quarters said they expected hateful content to increase between now and then.

Ms Whitham went on to explain these types of remarks played a big part in her decision to step down.

“That made me really search inside my heart to think about whether I wanted to stand again,” she continued.

“The conclusion that I came to, for a couple of reasons, but mainly due to the misogynistic abuse, was that I didn’t want to put myself through that anymore.”

Hear the latest news on Clyde 1 on FM, DAB, smart speaker or the Rayo app.