Priti Patel has ordered an immediate review of MPs’ security after the killing of Sir David Amess while meeting constituents. The home secretary met police and representatives of the security and intelligence agencies after the 69-year-old MP was fatally stabbed as he held a surgery in his Southend West constituency. A spokesman for Patel said that she had also spoken to the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle. “The home secretary has asked all police forces to review security arrangements for MPs with immediate effect and will provide updates in due course,” the spokesman said. Hoyle has promised to look again at MPs’ security after Amess’s killing. The fatal attack has intensified concerns among MPs about the risks of doing their job, just five years after Jo Cox was killed. Hoyle said Amess’s death had sent “shockwaves across the whole parliamentary community and the whole country”. He added: “In the coming days, we will need to discuss and examine MPs’ security and any measures to be taken, but for now, our thoughts and prayers are with David’s family, friends and colleagues.” The Palace of Westminster is patrolled by armed police and surrounded by electronic security gates, while airport-style scanners greet delegates to party conferences. But when MPs return to their constituencies, there is far less protection. Local surgeries, which are an opportunity for any constituent to raise an issue of concern, are often held in public venues, such as the church where Amess was attacked. After Cox was shot and stabbed at her constituency surgery during the 2016 Brexit referendum, security was stepped up. MPs were issued with panic alarms, in some cases security doors and bulletproof glass were put in their homes and they were given a single point of contact at the local police force to advise them on safety. But many say they continue to receive a constant stream of threats of violence and abuse. The former Labour MP for Redcar Anna Turley, who lost her seat in 2019, said she had decided not to stand in future elections because of the constant threats – for which she blamed a culture of abuse on social media. “It’s encouraging people to become more and more extreme in the things they say and the language they use,” she said. “We have been fostering an environment where electoral representatives are dehumanised. It’s become completely toxic. You start off in politics with an open heart and an open hand and that is exactly how David was.” After consistent abuse on social media, she said, she “ended up not advertising my surgeries, doing everything by invitation, having an intercom on the door”. She called for social media companies to do more to take down abusive content, and to shut down groups where violence against MPs or other public servants was being discussed. Cox’s murder in 2016 followed the stabbing of another Labour MP, Stephen Timms, in 2010, and the death of constituency worker, Andrew Pennington, in 2000 as he protected the Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones from a sword-wielding attacker. A neo-Nazi was jailed in May 2019 for a plot to kill the Labour MP Rosie Cooper and a female police officer. He had bought a 48cm knife. Last year a man was jailed for sending threatening messages about another Labour MP, Yvette Cooper, and given a 10-year restraining order preventing him from contacting her or her former office manager Jade Botterill. Botterill tweeted on Friday that she had left her job because of the “overwhelming” threats against Cooper she was dealing with, saying she regularly reported 50 threats a week, and once more than 100. Nevertheless, MPs continue to emphasise the importance of face-to-face contact with constituents at regular surgeries and other public events, as a fundamental part of their job. Jess Phillips, the MP for Birmingham Yardley, said she and many other MPs would disregard any advice that prevented them going about their lives in their constituencies. “I wouldn’t do it,” she said. “You can’t put me behind a screen when I’m walking my kids to a cafe: I’m not the pope.” She said the police had advised her to behave less predictably, but that was difficult to achieve. Phillips said her local police had generally responded well when she reported threats to them – but other colleagues had experienced a “mixed picture”, with some complaining of not being taken seriously. The Norwich South MP Clive Lewis said there was little more that could be done to protect MPs aside from tackling the wider issue of violent crime in society. “More security isn’t the answer, just as more police on the streets isn’t the answer to cutting crime,” he said. “Crime, including violent crime, is increasingly systemic, and until you deal with that nothing short of moving around in a tank will do.”