Furness MP Simon Fell has joined 50 fellow Conservative MPs to lobby social media companies to do more to tackle online abuse.

The letter calls out the 'inaction' of social media companies to stamp out abuse on their platforms and makes recommendations including ID verification, lifetime bans for repeat offenders and UK-based teams to deal with reported abuse.

The issue comes to the fore as MPs prepare for a return of the Online Safety Bill for a second reading in the House of Common.The urgency to act follows the collective outcry from MPs to do more to stop the regular abuse they receive online.

The letter says: “Sadly, if you are in public life, whether it be as a sportsperson or a politician you are seen as “fair game”. The message it gives out to our future generations is that this is simply the cost of being thrust into the spotlight which not only damages the very fabric of our society it also undermines our democracy."

Mr Fell said: “I am very pleased to put my support behind this important campaign. Social media companies must be more proactive in stamping out abuse on their platforms – they have a moral duty to ensure social media is a safe space for users.

“Unfortunately, in recent times, abuse online is becoming normalised and there is an urgent need to act now. The recommendations that we have made ensure that those who engage in abusive behaviour are held to account and I hope that these are taken seriously.”

Barrow Borough Councillor Shaun Blezard, who recently announced that he is stepping down from his position due to abuse, said there needs to be a 'balance'.

He said: "It's the balance between free speech and stopping people being hateful. We have seen both sides of that in the last couple of weeks where we've had MPs that have jumped on saying that they are abused when people are asking why did you vote this way - it's not a way to stop accountability.

"But I really do think social media companies, along with the press and the way people speak in general needs to improve."

Unable to get on board with the idea of ID verification, Cllr Blezard said: "Let's start with simple measures of actually having a society that is civil to itself rather than just getting all authoritarian.

"People are giving up their time and volunteering for the community. If someone wants to phone me and say why did you vote for that I will answer it but I just block people being rude to me now.

"If we're not actually trying to be nicer people you can throw as much legislation as you want at it."