Home Secretary to hold meeting on 'alarming rise' in intimidation of election candidates

The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will hold a meeting to address the "alarming rise" in harassment, intimidation and abuse towards election candidates and campaigners.

It comes after the government's advisor on political violence wrote a letter to Cooper warning of the growth of a “toxic, dangerous environment” in public life, and urging her to commission an inquiry into intimidation of candidates.

Cooper condemned some of the "disgraceful scenes" during the election campaign, as many candidates faced threats, particularly over the issue of Gaza.

The meeting of the government taskforce on defending democracy will look at how "public safety, security and standards in our democracy can be upheld."

John Woodcock, the government's advisor on political violence, wrote to Cooper on Friday expressing concern that intimidation of election candidates could have been a "concerted campaign by extremists".

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Woodcock drew parallels with the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, saying it was a "vivid reminder of the vulnerability of all politicians."

Woodcock urged Cooper to launch an inquiry to look at whether the protestors in different constituencies were working together.

It was female candidates in particular who were targeted during the election campaign - Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said masked men interrupted a community meeting, while Jess Phillips said her staff had to make regular calls to police about safety threats.

Phillips was also heckled during her speech after she was re-elected as the MP for Birmingham Yardley.

The Home Secretary 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.

"Some of those incidents are now being investigated by the police. The disgraceful scenes we saw in some areas during this election campaign must not be repeated", she said.

"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."

Cooper said she will also be speaking with MPs and candidates who faced "intimidation, harassment and abuse during the election campaign", to hear about their experiences.

The Defending Democracy taskforce was set up in November last year to "protect the democratic integrity of the UK from foreign interference."

Concerns around the security of MPs have been heightened since the murders of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016, and Conservative MP David Amess in 2016 at a constituency surgery.

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