Labour MP Satvir Kaur says she faces “extreme” abuse including racism almost daily.

Kaur has been in public office since 2011 and said the abuse has escalated since she was elected MP for Southampton Test in July. She was the first female Sikh leader of a local authority in Britain when she headed Southampton City Council from 2022 to 2023.

It was put to Ms Kaur on BBC Radio Solent that women in politics receive a lot of abuse, and she said: “It’s been extreme, it’s kind of more than I thought.

You always get it when you’re kind of in the public eye and being a politician – suddenly somehow you become sub-human when all you’re really trying to do is make a positive difference to people’s lives.

So I got it to a certain extent when I was a councillor and leader of the council, but I feel as though, since I’ve become an MP – especially online – I feel as though I’ve attracted all of the misogynists, all of the racists, and all of the haters out there.”

She added that she receives racist abuse “constantly, almost on a daily basis.

Actually it just encourages me more to do what I’m doing, because I want other people from areas of deprivation, and brown girls, to feel that, if I can do it, they can do it. The MP said she tries to ignore the vitriol and blocks abusive comments on her social media, but she does occasionally “bite”.

“I don’t want to spread hate, and there’s enough hate out there,” she told BBC Radio Solent presenter Louisa Hannan.

Hate crime is an issue often flagged by her constituents on the doorstep, Ms Kaur said.

In her maiden speech, she told Parliament she is the daughter of a market trader and grew up in inner-city Southampton on free school meals.

Ms Kaur succeeded Labour’s Alan Whitehead as the MP for Southampton Test. He had held the post for 27 years.