A North East MP has called out a troll on Twitter after they left a ‘disgusting’ post about her sexuality.

Dehenna Davison, MP for Bishop Auckland, stressed that the person needed to be “held accountable” for their comment which was left on her Instagram.

She Tweeted the comment alongside a post reading: “You know earlier this week the BBC ran a piece about the amount of toxic tweets MPs receive?

“Yeah, about that…”

She added: “On the rare occasions I share vile comments, I usually hide the name of the person who posted. But this is so disgusting they need to be held accountable.

“I think we all have a role in calling this stuff out when we see it.

“I have spoken to so many great people (particularly women) who say they’d love to go into politics but are put off by the online abuse they see MPs and others in elected positions get. It’s such a waste of talent.

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The Northern Echo:

“And also, if you’re using this thread as an opportunity to send more spiteful tweets, you are literally part of the problem.”

The MP has dealt with trolls in the past and a recent investigation, just two days ago, found that she is the North East MP to receive the most online abuse.

The BBC’s analysis of three million tweets aimed at MPs over a six-week period found more than 130,000 - around one in 20 - could be classed as toxic.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson received the largest number of tweets considered toxic at 19,000 - around four per cent of the total he received.

Richmondshire MP Rishi Sunak, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer during the investigation period, was in the top five MPs receiving the most toxic tweets at 9,000.

Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison received the most toxic tweets - 403 - of all North East MPs during the investigation period and she told The Northern Echo that everybody has a responsibility to ‘call-out’ online abuse.

“I wasn’t that surprised by the scale of abusive tweets that the BBC uncovered, it is something that myself and my team experience day in day out,” said Dehenna.

“It is kind of part of the job, though I’m not saying that is right.”

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