A candidate’s view: The reality of online abuse

Sarah Rees

But mummy, what if you don’t win?”

When my child asked me that last week, I told them we would face whatever comes next together.

It’s not the first time I’ve had to say something like that. When I was made redundant on maternity leave, I picked myself up and carried on. I channelled that energy into campaigning to improve rights for others. It’s what I do, and I care deeply about it.

I know we can make up for the missed bedtime stories, the school holidays spent in clubs rather than together as a family. But I could not bring myself to say “everything will be ok.” Because if, in some nightmare scenario, Reform UK were to lead the next Welsh Government, it really wouldn’t be.

What’s shifting in our communities

The past week has been full of revelations. Local Reform candidates and councillors stepping down and defecting, some to Restore Britain, who openly call for all migrants, including those here legally, to be removed from the UK.

On the doorstep, you hear people repeating phrases like “stop the boats.” But the reality is very different. What that kind of rhetoric does is make doctors, nurses, social care workers, colleagues, friends and family members feel unsafe in their own communities.

That is not the country I thought I would be raising my family in. And I do not believe it reflects the views of the majority, or the values of our nation.

The reality of online abuse

Speaking out about the far right comes with consequences.

Online accounts like “Senedd Waste” have taken my images without permission and used them to target me, including highlighting my support for abortion rights, something I am proud of after campaigning to improve at-home access to medical abortion in Wales.

That led to people sharing details about where I live. Comments like “maybe your mother should have had an abortion too.”

I have learned to expect that kind of abuse online. It does not deter me from pursuing my goals to make positive change for others.

Where it really matters

What does concern me is what is happening beyond the screen.

You can see how this rhetoric is shifting the conversation, moving what people feel comfortable saying. One conversation on the doorstep this week has been hard to forget, because it says so much about where we are right now. A woman told me about her Muslim friend, someone doing vital work supporting vulnerable people in our community. Her young daughter has been facing racist bullying and is counting down the days to the summer holidays.

That is the real impact. And you cannot ignore where that comes from. Children repeat what they hear. Words picked up at home, in conversations, online, on the news. For some, they are just phrases said without much thought. For others, they become something they have to live with every day.

This is what happens when people chase power by stoking division and fear.

A sense of déjà vu

At times it feels uncomfortably familiar.

I think back to the Brexit years, when I was pregnant and trying to make sense of the world I was bringing a child into. There was uncertainty, but also hope that things could improve.

A decade on, it is hard not to feel that in many ways we have gone backwards. We see it globally as well as closer to home. Donald Trump fuelling division and instability, conflicts that continue to devastate communities and drag millions into poverty, and here in Cymru, Nigel Farage building support through that same politics of division.

And it is not just the tone, it is what is being said. We are hearing Reform UK candidates talking about reopening coal mines as if that is the future, suggesting women should stay at home, even implying that using childcare puts children at risk. It is a version of the past that would see working people pushed back and opportunities narrowed.

It feels like somewhere along the way, things have gone wrong.

The women pushing back

But there are also moments that remind you why this fight matters.

I was invited to speak at a Women Against the Far Right & TAN Cerdd event on Wednesday. It was one of those conversations that really reminds you why this fight matters.

Women like Dionne, spoke about the constant effort it takes just to be heard as a Black businesswoman, having to fight for space that should already be there. And Mymuna, who has faced sustained and very public abuse, including from platforms like GB News, and still refuses to step back, continuing to speak up for her community.

These are women doing the work every day. Organising, speaking out, supporting others and pushing back against hate in their communities. They are who drive me, and they remind me that Cymru can be a place built on solidarity, not division.

Why I chose Plaid Cymru

I spoke to them about why I joined Plaid Cymru.

About working with Senedd Members to speak out on the genocide in Gaza, to challenge Welsh Labour Government investments in companies involved in supplying arms to Israel, and how each time I asked Plaid Members for support, the response was not just yes, but “what more can we do?”

That’s what it means to live your values. I soon realised that’s what Plaid Cymru does in practice.

Moments like Lindsey Whittle’s win in Caerphilly raised Cymru on to a global stage as once again we were a beacon of hope against hate.

What happens next

The polls this week have put Plaid Cymru neck and neck with Reform UK.

I am doing everything I can to step outside my own echo chamber, to really listen and to understand what people are saying to me on the doorstep. It is not always comfortable, but it is necessary. I want to make sure we do not repeat the Brexit disaster that Nigel Farage helped set in motion. This time around, I can also see and feel that others understand just how important that is.

Because this is not inevitable.

If people want a different direction, they have the power to choose it — Plaid Cymru, and the values that define us.