Vandals spray paint ‘pedo’ on the constituency office of out Labour MP Luke Pollard
The MP has faced ongoing homophobic abuse over recent weeks
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Labour MP Luke Pollard was targeted by homophobic vandals who spray-painted ‘pedo’ on his constituency office.
The MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport has faced ongoing homophobic abuse in the space of a week and in a recent attack, vandals called him a ‘pedo’ and wrote ‘Die Blair’ in a previous attack.
In July, a man was jailed after threatening to rape his staff who were working at the office.
But now, Pollard has refused to be silenced and has said he would sit with the vandals to talk about the ongoing attacks, according to the Metro.
He said: “There is no place for this kind of stuff.
“There is a tiny minority of people who are very angry at the moment but my offer to sit and chat about it still stands.
“I am the first MP to have an office in the city centre and the vast majority of the time it is a really positive thing.”
My office was vandalised again this morning. There is no place for hate and abuse in #plymouth. As our city’s first openly gay MP I sometimes receive hate based on who I love but I know those who peddle hate do not speak for the vast, vast majority of our city. pic.twitter.com/oYGkte8mtO
— Luke Pollard MP (@LukePollard) October 27, 2019
Posting an image of the recent attack on Twitter, Pollard said: “My office was vandalised again this morning.
“There is no place for hate and abuse in Plymouth.
“I sometimes receive hate based on who I love but I know those who peddle hate do not speak for the vast, vast majority of our city.
“My offer of to sit down and talk with the individuals who vandalised my office still stands but they need to be aware that hate and abuse will not silence me and my team in standing up for our city and it’s people.”