AN MP has called for legal protection offered to emergency services staff from abusive and violent members of the public to match that offered to police.

North Sunderland MP Bill Etherington told the Commons that attacks on firefighters in the city last year accounted for more than a quarter of the UK's total.

Out of 58 attacks on crews nationwide last year, 15 were in Sunderland.

Presenting a backbench bill, Mr Etherington said it should be a criminal offence ''to assault, intimidate or otherwise interfere with emergency services personnel in the execution of their duties.''

He said that since April this year there had been 12 more attacks in Sunderland, warning it indicated a potentially massive increase in attacks.

It is therefore vital that legislation be introduced to protect them, he said.

''Violence towards public service workers has been escalating. We all know that despite the fact crime in general has reduced in recent years, violent crime has taken the opposite course and is actually increasing.

''It surprises me that over many years the Government has never seen fit to give the same protection to firefighters, ambulance drivers, and medical staff who are involved in this sector, that the police have.''

He argued that legislating against such attacks would get the message over to the public that violence would not be tolerated and said the matter should not be left to the courts to deal with.

He said: ''The courts are not the social conscience of this country, this place is supposed to be the social conscience of this country. We are supposed to make legislation which the courts will carry out and we haven't done so."