ABUSIVE social media posts aimed at MSPs nearly tripled from 8,110 to 23,507 in just a year, figures show.

The 2024-25 figures were revealed as part of a Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB) initiative monitoring social media accounts of 69 volunteer MSPs.

SNP MSPs faced the largest number at 15,749, followed by Labour (4,150), Tories (1,888), Greens (939), and Lib Dems (729); while male parliamentarians were almost five times more likely to receive abuse at 19,511 compared with female colleagues on 3,996.

Despite the overall increase, police referrals fell from 461 to 257, and only one made it to court.

Holyrood’s director of operations and digital Lynsey Hamill said: “We can see the scale of online abuse of MSPs is now readily apparent and growing.

“This chimes with feedback we have had from members for some time now.”

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson added: “The SPCB is acutely aware of the rising level of threat against elected representatives.

“Potentially criminal threats are identified by the Parliament’s security team and escalated to Police Scotland for its action.”