Hundreds of abusive social media posts sent to MSPs

Most were considered “general abuse”, but 452 – the second highest category – were deemed to be of a racial or religious nature.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay said the study showed how “prevalent this form of abuse is.”

She added: “Nobody should need to put up with any form of abuse whilst doing their job. Such abuse can have a devastating impact on people’s lives and is completely unacceptable.”

Holyrood’s director of operations and digital, Lynsey Hamill, said that although the majority of both criminal and non-criminal abuse was directed towards men, female MSPs often suffered “belittling” and “personal” comments aimed towards them.

She stated: “The trial has revealed the scale of online abuse directed at MSPs, including the number of posts which meet a criminal threshold for reporting. Our findings are sobering.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Greens called the figures “truly shocking and said some politicians had to take responsibility for the escalation in abuse.

He said: “The language used by certain politicians about other parties is quite clearly putting their colleagues in danger.”

Scottish Conservative MSP Annie Wells said abuse had impacted her work and that the project “paints a stark and deeply concerning picture”.

As a result of the findings, the Scottish Parliament has made the trial permanent, and will recruit another security analyst to help accommodate up to 80 MSPs.