Labour MP calls for Tory councillor's wife jailed over racist post to be freed
23 May 2025, 14:07
A Labour MP has called for the wife of a Tory councillor to be freed after she was jailed for a tweet about the Southport attacks.
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Mary Glindon has become the first of her party to oppose the 31-month sentence handed to Lucy Connolly, claiming it was “unduly harsh”.
The MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend said Connolly “doesn’t pose a threat to the public” and that she “can’t imagine how [the sentence] will impact her young daughter”.
Childminder and mother Connolly, from Northampton, suggested people should "set fire" to hotels housing asylum seekers and called for "mass deportation now" in a post on 29 July.
She was jailed last October after admitting making the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, and is currently serving her sentence at HMP Drake Hall, Staffordshire.
Ms Glindon has signed an early day motion (EDM), drafted by former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, which “notes with concern” Connolly’s imprisonment.
The motion calls for prison space to be “prioritised for dangerous and violent offenders, not young mothers like Lucy Connolly”.
Ms 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.”
Read more: 'No mercy' for councillor's wife jailed for racist tweet as early release bid denied
Ms Glindon said that “Lucy’s impetuous tweet was not only unthinkable but vile in content”, but added: “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.”
Connolly’s post, which she later deleted, said: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.”
It came after three girls were stabbed and killed at a holiday club in Southport on the same date, sparking nationwide unrest.
She recently launched an appeal against her 31-month sentence but it was dismissed at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
Judges ruled that "there is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive".
Last week Connolly told the Court of Appeal in London she “never” intended to incite violence and did not realise pleading guilty would mean she accepted that she had.
She said she had been “really angry” after the Southport attacks, but hours after posting the rant on X realised it was not an acceptable thing to say, so deleted it.
Adam King, representing Connolly, asked if she had intended for anyone to set fire to asylum hotels or “murder any politicians”.
She replied: “Absolutely not.”
