Abuse of councillors in the UK is becoming a national problem.
As a result, Cheshire East Council – in the north west of England – is one of many local governments to bring in measures to tackle the issue after a report found around a third of councillors had considered standing down over increasing levels of abuse and harassment – including death threats. A majority of the abuse reported was posted on social media (82 per cent).
Councillor Fiona Wilson – who chaired a review into the problem – said it was sad so many of her colleagues had expressed a desire to resign. “It does concern me because there’s an impact with councillors wanting to stand down – experienced councillors working hard for their communities who may not want to stand again.”
“We have to accept the need to protect councillors going forward,” Wilson added. Among the measures the council is considering are introducing a formal reporting process, running conflict prevention training, and issuing safety devices.
It’s time to do something about it
But rather than councils such as Cheshire East tackling the issue individually, deputy leader Michael Gorman said: “I think we need a national response. This is becoming a national problem.”
Gorman called on the UK Government to step in. “I think they really need to take some action,” he said.
“We can’t have people who are giving up their time and energy being intimidated and abused constantly online and through email and face to face, having their cars damaged – all the things we learned from this report and the reports nationally … it’s time to do something about it.”
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