The case of Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Tory councillor who was jailed over an offensive tweet, has sparked outrage across the country – and now even a Labour MP is calling for her release. Mary Glindon, MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, has put her name to an early day motion tabled by ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe which calls for a review of Connolly’s sentence to ‘ensure that limited prison space is prioritised for dangerous and violent offenders’ in a move that breaks ranks with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. How very curious…
Remarking on her support for Lowe’s motion, Glindon said:
I simply signed the EDM because I was very upset that Lucy had lost her appeal, and that her young daughter would be without her mother for a longer period. In my opinion, Lucy doesn’t pose a threat to the public. She seems to be paying a heavy price for what she did.
Lucy’s impetuous tweet was not only unthinkable but vile in content… Lucy has experienced the pain of losing a child and could be forgiven for a sudden, otherwise unthinkable reaction – one she quickly corrected. The judge has been unduly harsh. I can’t imagine how this will impact her young daughter. My heart bleeds for her.
Glindon’s support comes after Connolly’s appeal against her sentence was quashed by a judge this week. The wife of Northampton councillor Ray Connolly had taken to Twitter during the riots of last summer to fume: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them. I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist, so be it.’ The tweet was reported and Connolly was sentenced to 31 months behind bars. This week Starmer defended the punishment – telling Lowe in the Commons that: ‘Sentencing is a matter for our courts, and I celebrate the fact that we have independent courts in this country… I will always support the action taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe.’
Lowe’s motion now has six signatories, including Conservative MPs Sir Gavin Williamson and Andrew Rosindell. In a surprise move, the first politician to support the EDM was ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – before he promptly withdrew his name from the list. As outrage continues to gather online over Connolly’s incarceration, will more MPs join forces with the former Reform man? Watch this space…
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