THE way politics is conducted must change because harassment and intimidation of MPs is “unacceptable”, according to Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott.

She was speaking after it emerged that Justice Minister Mike Freer is to step down as an MP at the next General Election due to a decade of intimidation over his support of Israel.

Trott told GB News: “It’s incredibly sad. Mike Freer is a brilliant minister and a great man and he’s made a huge contribution to British life.

“The fact that he feels that he cannot stand as an MP at the next election because of the intimidation that he has been part of is frankly, unacceptable.

“We need to change the way that politics is conducted in this country so that people can air opinions without fear of harassment and intimidation.”

In a discussion during Breakfast with Ellie Costello and Stephen Dixon, she added: “It is unacceptable that somebody like Mike who is a brilliant man, a brilliant MP, is being hounded out of politics in this way.

“I think it’s really important when we talk about politics to disagree agreeably. It’s very easy to get very angry about certain things, but it is possible to have respect for your opponents but disagree with what they have to say.”

She added: “I stood on a manifesto to increase the police officer numbers by 20,000 and that’s something that we have delivered.

“We are seeing the impact especially if I think about my local area, I’m the Sevenoaks and Swanley MP, I’ve now got more police officers on the beat every day and that’s one of the reasons why crime has come down by 50% since 2010.”