CCTV of moment 'brick' was hurled at Labour MP Julie Elliott's office in late night attack

CCTV shows the moment a thug hurled what appears to be a brick at the office of  Labour MP Julie Elliott.

The MP for Sunderland Central had the front window of her office smashed at around 11:10pm on Saturday night, just a few days after the general election campaign kicked off.

Now, Northumbria Police have released CCTV footage of the incident showing a man they want to speak to in relation to the vandalism.

The man in the CCTV is wearing dark clothes and carries what looks like a supermarket carrier bag.

Mrs Elliot said the attack was "unacceptable".

The front window of the Labour MP's office was smashed (Twitter)

She told the Mirror Online: "It's clear it was a deliberate attack. People who do this are just bullies but I won't cower down to it.

"It is not acceptable but my first priority is that my staff are okay.

"We just have to try to make sure police can catch whoever did this. I don’t mind anyone having a political disagreement with me but this is not how we behave."

Mrs Elliott said she was relieved that the attack happened on a Saturday when her staff don't work.

Although the incident occurred at around 11:10pm, Mrs Elliott said she would typically have had around six members of staff in the office if it had been a weekday.

CCTV image of a man police want to speak to after Labour candidate Julie Elliott's office windows were smashed (Northumbria Police)

The  Labour  MP said: "It's been quite encouraging on social media to see supportive messages from across the party spectrum. Local Tories have openly said it is not good."

Mrs Elliot was first elected as MP for Sunderland Central in 2010.

She has also served as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Rugby Union and vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality for Women.

Last week, MPs voted to hold the first general election during winter time since February 1974, in order to break the parliamentary deadlock over  Brexit .

MP Julie Elliott's office was vandalised on Saturday night (Twitter)

Since then MPs have been warned not to go out alone or after dark during the campaign.

Discussing her own security, Elliott said: "Extra security for female MPs has been a part of our daily life for the last couple of years. It is very, very sad that we have to watch everything that we do, but we have to take steps to stay safe."