7 in 10 councillors nationwide have reported being subject to abuse or intimidation in the course of carrying out their role.
Local Government Association‘s #DebateNotHate campaign aims to champion civility in public life, improve the safety and wellbeing of councillors and make sure no-one is deterred from standing for public office. It aims to achieve this by improving awareness of what councillors do, supporting councils to enhance their safety procedures and encouraging elected officials and activists to be mindful of how they engage in debate.
Labour Group at Norwich City Council’s motion in support of #DebateNotHate was passed unanimously by Norwich City Council last month.
Cllr Beth Jones, who proposed the motion, spoke to BBC Norfolk this morning to discuss her experiences of being targeted, the impact this had on her and the implications for democracy more widely.
“If we start expecting people to tolerate this level of threat and intimidation, then you start getting, I think, the wrong people being able to be councillors”
Listen to Beth’s interview in full here.