Home Secretary to probe 'disgraceful' election intimidation, as Jo Cox's sister says UK politics 'not in a good place'

15 July 2024, 17:24 | Updated: 15 July 2024, 18:51

The Home Office will investigate intimidation that may have taken place during the general election.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has said she will chair a meeting of the government’s Defending Democracy taskforce in response to an “alarming rise” in harassment and abuse towards candidates.

Ms Cooper said: “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.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater says people have 'lost the art' of having 'powerful debate' without being

“Some of those incidents are now being investigated by the police. “In our democracy we must be able to passionately debate and disagree on issues without ever resorting to intimidating tactics designed to silence voices, suppress votes or prevent free and full participation in our democratic processes. “The disgraceful scenes we saw in some areas during this election campaign must not be repeated.

“That’s why I am convening and chairing a meeting of the Defending Democracy Taskforce next week to make sure public safety, security and standards in our democracy can be upheld.

“In the coming weeks, I will also be speaking and meeting with MPs and candidates from across political parties who faced intimidation, harassment and abuse during the election campaign to hear about their experiences.”

This comes after Labour big-hitter Jess Phillips says she suffered sectarian abuse and intimidation during her successful campaign for re-election as MP in Birmingham Yardley.

She said the recent election was the worst she had ever stood in, with she and her team having been abused, threatened and intimidated by opposition activists. One of her activists even had the tyres of her car slashed.

Ms Phillips told LBC's Lewis Goodall that it was "too simple to say" that the abuse she suffered was sectarian, after she beat Workers Party candidate Jody McIntyre by fewer than 700 votes.

Kim Leadbeater, the sister of murdered MP Jo Cox also told LBC's Ben Kentish Monday afternoon that the climate around politics was "not in a good place". She argued that while the attack happened in the US, political violence was still an issue in the UK.

"It is eight years since Jo was murdered and hoped things would get better. But unfortunately I'm not sure they have," she said.

The MP for Spen Valley, who succeeded her sister in Parliament, said while politicians needed to be protected so they can "do their job properly", they shouldn't be "wrapped up in cotton wool and kept away from the people they've been elected to serve".

She said the "culture and climate around poliitcs" needed to change to reflect more positivity.

"I am a liitle bit sick of having this conversation because I've been having it for a few years now. I want to see change, I don't just want to talk about it," she told LBC.

Lord Walney, the government's adviser on political violence and disruption, welcomed the news of the review.

He told Ben: "What Yvette is doing is really important and this has had cross party support for some time.

"I really welcome her announcement of a rapid review into this.

"It's really important we understand the scale of the problem which is bigger than what has been publicly reported, and we need to understand what are the causes and the drivers of the problems people have been facing."