Scottish MP Michelle Thomson moves Parliament to tears as she relives rape ordeal aged 14

A Scottish MP has moved colleagues to tears after revealing that she was raped at the age of 14 in the House of Commons.

Michelle Thomson, who is sitting as an independent MP, shared details of the attack with other MPs during a parliamentary debate on the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The same debate saw Labour MP, and former Coronation Street actress, Tracy Brabin speak of how a man attempted to rape her while she was a 20-year-old university student.

Thomson told the Commons that she was "not a victim, I'm a survivor". She said: "When I was 14, I was raped. As is common, it was by somebody who was known to me.

"He had offered to walk me home from a youth event and in those days everybody walked everywhere, it was quite common to do that."

She continued: "He told me he wanted to show me something in a wooded area and at that point, I must admit, I was alarmed. I did have a warning bell but I overrode that warning bell because I knew him and therefore there was a level of trust in place."

"To be honest, looking back at that point I don't think I knew what rape was. It was not something that was talked about. It was mercifully quick and I remember first of all feeling surprise, then fear, then horror as I realised I quite simply couldn't escape," she said.

Thomson said she cried when walkingd home alone afterward, adding she "bottled it up" and didn't tell friends, family or police. She said it was only in her mid-40s that she decided to get help.

"I was very ashamed. I was ashamed that I had allowed this to happen to me ... I felt that I was spoiled and impure, and I really felt revulsion towards myself. My senses were absolutely numbed," she added, saying the rape had "fatally undermined" her confidence and sense of self-worth.

She said she thought carefully about sharing her story, adding: "There is still a taboo about sharing this kind of information and certainly for people of my generation."

She spoke of learning that rape was not about sex, but about power and control. "A rape happens when a man makes a decision to hurt someone he feels he can control," she told the Commons. "Rapes happen because of the rapist, not because of the victim."

She concluded: "One thing I realise now is I'm not scared and he was. I'm not scared, I'm not a victim, I'm a survivor."

Thomson, MP for Edinburgh West, is currently sitting as an independent after withdrawing from the SNP whip amid a police investigation into property deals.

Former soap star Tracy Brabin, who became MP for Batley and Spen – following murder of Labour MP Jo Cox – also spoke of being a victim of a sex attack.

She said she slept with a knife after a stranger attempted to rape her when she was 20. Brabin said she thought of herself as "one of the lucky ones" and that her attacker was brought to justice.

She said: "I was in my second year at university, the man had seen me walk past his car and had waited ahead for me to turn the corner. As I came up against him all those words of advice your mum gives you – knee him where it hurts then run like hell – well they disappeared, I was frozen in fear.

"As he shoved me to the ground trying to rape me, I fought back, but I was battered. It was only the community-spirited Indian neighbour further down the road that saved me from something much worse."

Brabin urged the government to do more to combat violence against women.