Ministers to meet over ‘alarming rise’ in political intimidation at election

UK Government ministers and officials will hold talks next week following the “alarming rise” in intimidation and abuse of political candidates during the general election campaign, the Home Secretary has said.

Yvette Cooper said there had been “disgraceful scenes” in some areas in the run-up to the July 4 vote as she announced she would chair a meeting of the Government’s “defending democracy” taskforce.

It comes as the Government’s adviser on political violence John Woodcock, a former Labour MP who now sits in the House of Lords as Baron Walney, said he feared it was “only a matter of time” before there is another serious attack on a politician unless more is done to address the safety of MPs.

Harassment

Ms Cooper said in a statement on Monday: “Political violence, intimidation and harassment have no place in our democracy.

“The recent general election campaign demonstrated some of the great strengths of our democratic traditions, including a smooth and peaceful transition of power from one party to another, but during this campaign, we also saw an alarming rise in intimidation, harassment and abuse towards candidates, campaigners and volunteers from all parties which simply cannot be tolerated.

“Some of those incidents are now being investigated by police.

“The disgraceful scenes we saw in some areas during this election campaign must not be repeated.”

Ms Cooper said the task force, which was set up by the previous Tory government and will bring together ministers and experts, would meet to “make sure public safety, security and standards in our democracy can be upheld”.

Rapid review

The Home Office will carry out a “rapid review” of the election to gauge the level of harassment faced by candidates with police forces across the country investigating “a number of” cases, it is understood.

Speaking to the PA news agency on Monday, Lord Walney said that there is a “much greater level” of intimidation present in UK politics than what has appeared in the public domain.

On Friday, he wrote to the Home Secretary suggesting a “short but systematic review” assessing the scale of the problem, and saying there had been a “concerted campaign by extremists to create a hostile atmosphere for MPs within their constituencies to compel them to cave into political demands”.

Following the assassination attempt against Donald Trump on the weekend, Lord Walney said that in both Britain and the US there are “some parts of our political debate that are deeply toxic and divided”.

“My fear is that unless we can do more to address both the physical safety of MPs and a wider culture that too often is a permissive atmosphere for potentially violent threats, then it is only a matter of time before there is another serious attack on a serving politician in the UK,” he told PA.

Targeted

Earlier this month, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood recalled how she, her family and supporters had been targeted in the run-up to polling day, saying that some people had sought to “deny” her Muslim faith.

Labour MP for Walthamstow Stella Creasy had the window of her office smashed days before the election while Jess Phillips used her victory speech in Birmingham Yardley to speak of repeated intimidation she and campaigners faced during the campaign.

Both Ms Phillips – who quit Labour’s front bench last year to vote in favour of a Gaza ceasefire in Parliament – and Ms Mahmood faced competition in their Birmingham seats from candidates who stood on pro-Gaza tickets.

Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington Diane Abbott criticised Lord Walney’s intervention in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying it was a “crude effort to demonise all those who support Palestinian rights”.

Lord Walney said that during the election campaign there had been some “deeply aggressive pro-Palestine campaigners seeking to single out and target (candidates), and that is an entirely separate thing to the expressions of protest on the streets”.

Ms Abbott said: “John Woodcock is a Boris Johnson appointment. He has no credibility. This is just a crude effort to demonise all those who support Palestinian rights.”