WARRINGTON North MP Helen Jones has claimed footballing organisations do not take the abuse of disabled people seriously.

The Premier League, Football Association and English Football League have responded to a letter from the parliamentary petitions committee, from July last year, following the publication of the committee’s report on ‘online abuse and the experience of disabled people’.

The committee, which is chaired by Labour’s Warrington North MP Mrs Jones, has responded with further questions about football’s response to online abuse.

The committee’s report criticised the sport’s ‘lack of action’ over the abuse of disabled people.

It also revealed the ‘extreme level of abuse’ that disabled people receive online.

The disabled people who took part in an inquiry were said to be enthusiastic users of social media but many were ‘driven from online platforms’ while their ‘abusers went unchecked’.

The inquiry found a high proportion of abusive content against disabled people was related to football.

Mrs Jones said: “We said in our report that the lack of response from footballing organisations was shameful and their delayed response has not changed our opinion.

“The letter does nothing to change my view that footballing organisations do not take the abuse of disabled people seriously.

“Our letter and report made clear that physical accessibility is only a part of making society more inclusive for disabled people, and yet physical accessibility was the main focus of their response.

“We will be writing to them with further questions to seek the reassurances we need.”

The inquiry was triggered by a petition started by Katie Price, which attracted 221,914 signatures before it closed early due to the 2017 General Election.

It talked about online abuse directed at people from all backgrounds but also highlighted shocking abuse directed at her disabled son, Harvey.

The petition called on the Government to ‘make online abuse a specific criminal offence and create a register of offenders’.