LAST week, we witnessed the tragic death of Sir David Amess – a parliamentarian for nearly 40 years, first serving the constituents of Basildon and then Southend.

Sir David was killed in fulfilling his public duty as an MP at his constituency surgery. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

This was the second murder of an MP in five years, with memories of the Labour MP Jo Cox still fresh in our minds.

It was very fitting that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson accorded Southend city status in his speech in Parliament, something that Sir David had campaigned for for many years.

In his speech, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer stressed the togetherness of parliament and that there is more that unites Parliament than divides it.

Ian Blackford, SNP leader at Westminster, stated that he always found Sir David very passionate in his beliefs and they often disagreed, but he said that he never ever found him disagreeable and always debated with respect.

Police Scotland and the Scottish Parliament have been in touch with every MSP in the past few days to check on our personal security, our offices and around the Scottish Parliament.

This just doesn’t impact on MSPs, MPs or councillors, but on staff members and families of elected members.

Access to elected members is an essential part of our democracy and should continue to be so.

Politics, not only in the UK but globally, has become more polarised; debate has become more heated and less respectful.

Social media abuse is almost a daily occurrence for most MSPs and it’s hard not to take it personally.

Public service to our communities, be that being a member on a community council, a councillor, or as an MP or MSP, is a role that most feel is dedication to serving the communities that they represent.

All of us should never take our democracy for granted, nor our public servants, work together when we can and, if we disagree, let’s do so respectfully.