by Our News Desk

A LABOUR MP has said she faces extreme abuse, including racism, almost every day.

Satvir Kaur, who became the first female Sikh leader of a British local authority when she headed Southampton City Council from 2022 to 2023, told BBC Radio Solent yesterday that women in politics receive a lot of abuse.

Ms Kaur said abuse had escalated since she was elected MP for Southampton Test in July.

She said: “It’s been extreme, it’s kind of more than I thought.

“You always get it when you’re in the public eye and being a politician: suddenly somehow you become subhuman, when all you’re really trying to do is make a positive difference to people’s lives.

“So I got it to a certain extent when I was a councillor and leader of the council, but I feel as though, since I’ve become an MP, especially online, I feel as though I’ve attracted all of the misogynists, all of the racists and all of the haters out there.”

She added that she receives racist abuse almost daily.

“Actually it just encourages me more to do what I’m doing, because I want other people from areas of deprivation, and brown girls, to feel that if I can do it, they can do it,” she said.

The MP said she tries to ignore the vitriol and blocks abusive comments, but she does occasionally “bite.”

“I don’t want to spread hate, and there’s enough hate out there,” she added.

Hate crime is an issue often flagged by her constituents on the doorstep, Ms Kaur said.

She succeeded Labour’s Alan Whitehead as MP for Southampton Test. He had held the post for 27 years.