Date published: 2024-04-03 | Category: Democracy
Bath & North East Somerset Council has signed up to the Local Government Association's 'Debate not Hate' campaign.
The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the role of councillors in their communities, encourage healthy debate and improve the support for local politicians facing abuse and intimidation. Seven out of ten councillors reported experiencing abuse or intimidation in the last year according to the LGA's 2022 councillor census.
The move follows a motion agreed unanimously at Full Council on March 14 and which was proposed by Councillor Lesley Mansell, councillor for Radstock. The motion highlighted intimidation and abuse of councillors and local government officers, saying this undermines democracy by preventing elected members from representing the communities they serve, deterring people from standing for election, and undermining public life in democratic processes.
Councillor Lesley Mansell said: “I am very pleased this motion received the full support of all Bath & North East Somerset councillors. We all know that democracy thrives on good, frank discussions but these should never turn into personal abuse. Decision-making should be open, transparent and open to scrutiny. We all have the right to have our voices heard if we are unhappy with decisions that are taken on our behalf, but abuse cannot be tolerated.”
Councillor Kevin Guy, council leader, said: “Councillors are used to robust debate and discussion and challenge is vital to a healthy local democracy. However, threats, abuse and intimidation are unacceptable. The normalisation of abuse against councillors and officers either online or in person is not right and only serves to undermine local democracy. So I am delighted we have signed up to the LGA campaign and are taking a zero-tolerance approach to the abuse of councillors and officers.”
The motion strengthens the council’s existing commitment to tackling unacceptable behaviour towards staff and councillors following the introduction of a new Violence, Aggression, Threatening and Challenging Behaviour (Staff Safety) Policy which was rolled out last year.
Examples of unacceptable behaviour over the past year included one worker being driven at, a female colleague followed back to her workplace and threatened with physical violence and another member of staff threatened with a hammer.
As well as signing up to Debate Not Hate a cross party letter has gone to local MPs asking them to support the campaign and to the Government to ask it to work with the LGA to develop and implement a plan to address abuse and intimidation of people working and holding office in local government.
Council also agreed to uphold exemplary standards of public and political debate in all it does and it committed to providing councillor and officer training in online safety.
It also agreed to ensure the council has a clear reporting mechanism to allow monitoring and recording of incidents of harassment and abuse of councillors and officers, and that there would be a regular review of the support available to councillors and officers in relation to abuse and intimidation and safety
The council will also work with the local police to ensure a way of reporting threats and other concerns about the safety of councillors, officers and their families.
The full text of the motion can be found on the council’s democratic services webpages.
To find out more about Debate not Hate you can visit the LGA .
ENDS