British lawmakers marked the deaths of three politicians over the past decade on Monday, using tributes in Parliament to highlight growing concern about security and the wider impact of violence on political life.

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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said MPs should be able to carry out their work without fear. “Politics is a calling for those of us here, but it should not be a dangerous one,” she told the House, adding that ministers and police must remain alert to “changing threats” as they develop.

The latest killing, of former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, has drawn renewed attention to a period in which Britain has seen an unusually high number of political deaths in a short span. Widdecombe’s death came after the murders of sitting MPs Jo Cox in 2016 and David Amess in 2021.

Investigation into Widdecombe death

Police said Widdecombe was found dead at her home last week with “serious injuries”. She had previously served as an MP and later became the immigration spokesperson for Reform UK, a right-wing populist party.

Authorities initially said they had no information indicating her death was politically motivated. They subsequently announced that counter-terrorism police were leading the investigation.

A 28-year-old White British man was arrested, first on suspicion of murder and later on suspicion of “commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”. On Tuesday, the police said Widdecombe had been killed in a “targeted attack”. They have not given a motive but said one “line of enquiry” was whether the suspect was targeting Reform UK figures.

Calls to avoid simple links

Alan Renwick, a politics professor at University College London and director of the Constitution Unit, cautioned against connecting “the very extreme actions of a small number of individuals” to broader trends in society. He said, however, that the overall threat faced by MPs and others in public life has risen.

Renwick told CNN that threats are now directed at politicians “almost routinely”, which he said represents a shift from the past and “seriously impairs democracy”.

Threats and violence against MPs have increased sharply in recent years, according to reporting and parliamentary figures. The annual number of crimes against MPs reported to police reached almost 1,000 in 2025, nearly doubling from 2022, The Times reported in March. A parliamentary report said the number was 151 in 2017, describing it as a ten-fold increase since then.

Online debate and changing politics

Speakers linked the current risk environment to the political climate shaped by events earlier in the decade, including the period around the 2016 vote to leave the European Union. They also pointed to social media’s role in amplifying hostility.

Brendan Cox, Widdecombe’s predecessor Jo Cox’s widower, told Sky News he feels “much less optimistic” about political discourse than he did after his wife’s murder. He said the killing had initially prompted shock and unity across the political spectrum but that over time politics have moved further into opposing factions.

Cox said the “Wild West culture” online helps drive violence by making extreme content easier to spread and more likely to be treated as legitimate. He argued that regulators and the political system allow social media to continue promoting the most extreme material, often violent, content.

Diane Abbott, who has faced sustained abuse as the first Black woman elected to parliament, also drew attention to online activity, saying conditions have “got much, much worse” with the rise of online engagement.

While debate has focused on political attacks, officials noted that crime rates against individuals and households in Britain have generally fallen over the last decade.

Fears over constituent contact and Europe-wide pattern

Compared with many European countries, Britain’s number of murdered politicians is described as exceptional, although other parts of Europe have seen rising harassment and intimidation. The European Parliament has attributed that trend to increased political polarization.

In Britain, a parliamentary survey found that one in three MPs who took part were considering not standing for re-election, while many said their relationship with constituents had been affected.

Mahmood said security concerns have also changed how MPs interact with the public. When she was first elected in 2010, she held open constituency surgeries where residents could turn up. She said such sessions, where Cox and Amess were murdered, are now “no longer possible”.

“I still offer advice surgeries, but on terms that are very different from when I first became an MP,” Mahmood told MPs. “It is a tragedy because it does change the way we relate to our constituents.”

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15 July 2026

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The UK is one lit match from going up in flames.