Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, has accused Leicestershire Police of giving the “green light” to internet trolls after she received a call from social services about a safeguarding investigation over an allegation that her children were at “direct risk”

The complaint had been made to the police by a man from Leicester who disagreed with Creasy’s campaign against misogyny. Leicestershire Police gave the man an informal punishment, citing that the messages he had sent to the MP did not meet the threshold for a criminal offence.

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Creasy expressed her concern that this incident may lead to public figures’ children being targeted. “My children now have a social services record and it sets the green light that in public life, you can target these children. I think most people would think that’s unacceptable,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.