An MP has spoken out about the horrifying moment a member of the public threatened to rape her while she was serving in the Northern Ireland parliament.
Sorcha Eastwood, the Alliance MP for the Lagan Valley, said the incident happened while schoolchildren were visiting the Stormont building.
Those around her froze out of shock, she said, adding this was ‘not the right response’.
In a powerful speech during a debate on violence against women and girls, Eastwood – who served as an MLA from 2022 until her election to Westminster last year – said Northern Ireland is ‘one of the most dangerous places in Europe to be a woman’.
She told the House she received her first rape threat in 2017, when she first stood for election – but emphasised she had received more since then.
Eastwood continued: ‘We would see a lot of school groups coming through the constituency, we previously did a lot of visits to the Northern Ireland parliament building in Stormont whenever I sat there in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
‘And during one school visit, a member of the public came up and said that they wanted to rape me.
‘There were two people there, and we just were paralysed with the response. That was not the right response, that was not the right response.
‘Not from me, but from the people around. And it is so normalised, that that is exactly what people thought. That’s not good enough.’
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When she finished speaking, Eastwood was comforted by Conservative MP Dame Karen Bradley and Lib Dem Sarah Olney.
Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, who was praised for her work tackling violence against women during the speech, also crossed the floor to give her a long embrace.
Today’s emotional debate came amid a growing clamour over abuse of MPs, spurred by vitriolic online attacks from billionaire Elon Musk and his followers.
Shortly before Eastwood stood to speak, Labour MP Sarah Owen had said Musk was ‘really digging deep into the historical misogyny’ when he described Phillips as a ‘witch’.
She added: ‘How long has it been – powerful women that have stood up constantly called witch or something that rhymes with it?
‘I’m pretty sure most of us have all been called something similar for standing up to those in power.’
Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty spoke at length about James McMurdock, the Reform MP who was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend when he was a teenager.
He told the Commons: ‘The presence of a member of Parliament with a conviction for violently assaulting a woman has never been acknowledged in this House, let alone addressed.
‘Any debate in this House on the subject of violence against women and girls should address the convicted criminal already in our midst.’
Obese-Jecty argued ‘being sentenced for such a heinous crime means that you forfeit some of the privileges those of us who have never attacked a woman are granted’, adding: ‘One such privilege is being a member of Parliament.’
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