North Norfolk MP wants to keep face-to-face meetings with constituents
Duncan Baker has spoken out following the death of Sir David Amess
North Norfolk's MP has no intention of stopping face-to-face meetings with his constituents.
Police are working with members of parliament to review their security measures, following the fatal stabbing of Sir David Amess in Essex on Friday (15 October).
The Home Secretary has said she's considering close police protection for elected officials and Conservative MP, Tobias Ellwood has called for face-to-face meetings to be temporarily suspended.
Ms Patel said:
"Our elected representatives need to be able to around with confidence that they are safe and secure in the work that they are doing."
North Norfolk MP Duncan Baker said:
"The news on Friday of Sir David Amess being killed doing the job he loved for nearly 40 years, has been a real shock to every MP.
"It's been a huge shock to me certainly as a new MP and somebody who never thought really about their personal safety and security, because I grew up in North Norfolk, know so many people around the constituency, love the job I do and in most cases, really do get on well with most people I meet.
"But this is a wake up call and we must take it seriously. Do I want to call for banning of face to face meetings? Absolutely not. It will not perturb me from doing the job that I love doing. Yes, it will make sure that I look at my security and I think we urgently need to look at what is happening in the political system at the moment.
"The way that the media and social media are acting, I think in my view, does fuel a lot of this divisive behaviour that we are seeing and that has to be looked at, and people have to realise that sowing the toxicity that we are seeing, is not good for society. How we do that is going to be a great amount of work, but that is the root cause in my view, where a lot of these problems is coming from."