FEMALE MSPs have spoken out about the torrent of abuse they face daily online, which has seen one Labour frontbencher branded a “poisoned dwarf.”

In the Holyrood magazine published today, Labour education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy describes the “utterly relentless” abuse directed at her on social media, where she had been called a “dwarf,” a “witch,” and a “lying c*nt.”

The magazine contacted all 59 sitting female MSPs and found that rape threats, death threats and severe misogynistic abuse towards the 22 who responded were commonplace. 

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie described social media as a sewer and said the problem of abuse was “worse for female politicians.” Ash Regan, in the running to be the next leader of Alba, warned that the routine abuse of female politicians risked being ignored as it became “more socially acceptable” in recent years.

SNP MSP Elena Whitham, who is not standing next year, said harassment “definitely played a big part” in her decision, and other respondents said the abuse led them to consider following suit.

Three-quarters of respondents who intend to stand again expected the problem to escalate even further in the run-up to next year’s Holyrood elections.

A Scottish Parliament pilot programme launched in the wake of the murder of Tory MP David Amess in 2021 found that between June 2023 and March 2024, the 38 participating MSPs received a total of 461 threats deemed serious enough to be passed to Police Scotland.

The pilot, now made permanent, found that those threats, averaging 12 per MSP in less than a year, were overwhelmingly focused on gender, sexual orientation and race.