The tragic killing of MP Sir David Amess has again raised questions about what support is in place for those representing our areas.

While MPs have the support networks and teams in place to deal with the higher profile nature of Westminster politics, councillors often have to face abuse on their own.

Leader of North Hertfordshire District Council, Councillor Elizabeth Dennis-Harburg (Labour, Hitchin Walsworth), also highlighted that a lot of women are choosing not to go into politics partly because of abuse on social media.

Cllr Dennis-Harburg said: "We see these interactions a lot of the time mainly, unfortunately, on social media which is probably one of the most invasive forms of communication that we have because it's constantly with us, constantly on your phone and in your personal space.

"We do see a lot of commentary on there about these strange aliens-almost called councillors who are in it for themselves taking loads of public money, claiming expenses, never do never do anything good for the community, take brown envelopes from developers and, and a whole long list of all of the different horrible names that you could call any kind of human being, and that can that can be difficult to deal with.

"But I'm a millennial, I've grown up with social media and you come to expect trolling. It doesn't make it okay, but you understand, you accept and you move on, he learned to nod and smile."

She added that the council will be putting in measures in place following the incident, but it was vital to get on with the "beast part of the work" and speaking to residents.

Cllr Dennis-Harburg added: "Obviously when there is an incident like this it puts us all on guard, because this isn't just an attack on one individual or one particular place, it's an attack on every single person who is involved in democracy.

"It's politicians, it's the people that work with us, it's our communities, and it's absolutely not acceptable but for people at my level of democracy, there is no reason why we should be fearful, and why we shouldn't continue going about and in doing our jobs."