Sir David Amess death comes as a shock to Derbyshire MP
Labour Party MP for Chesterfield has described Sir David as being gentle and courteous
MPs in Derbyshire have been reacting to the murder of Conservative MP Sir David Amess, and sharing condolences that another incident like this has happened.
On Friday 15 October, Conservative party politician and MP for Southend West Sir David Amess died after being stabbed at a constituency meeting in Leigh-on-sea in Essex. His death has shocked the nation, and questions of security are now being raised.
Yesterday Members of Parliament paid a tribute to their former colleague in a minute's silence.
There have been conversations about how to go forward with it being the second time a member of parliament has died from an attack and whether they are given enough protection.
In June 2016, the British Labour Party Member for Batley and Spen Jo Cox also died in politically motivated murder.
Labour MP in Chesterfield Toby Perkins worked closely with Sir David and has said that one of the problems is that politicians are more visible than ever now. He stated:
"The divide in politics is something that's more recent and it particularly has escalated since the Brexit referendum in 2016 and I think social media has been a contributor to that. I think MPs are so accessible now."
"When I first became MP if you wanted to contact your MP you had to write a letter or an email, and so there was a sufficient amount of time for things to calm down. Whereas with social media all of our communications are so instant."
People still processing the incident
With it being just five years on from the murder of Jo Cox, the issue is a sensitive subject for many people. Her husband Brendan Cox has stated he'd had a 'physical reaction' to the murder. Labour MP Toby Perkins told Greatest Hits about how he thought politicians and his constituents would be feeling:
"Sir David was somebody who was a very gentle, very courteous person who always had time for people and parliament and so I think when you've got someone that appears to demonstrate that generosity of spirit it's a particular shock."
"I feel able generally to walk around Chesterfield but when something like this happens, and given the number of times it's happened and the amount of social media messages that around there, it does obviously make you pause for thought."