Intimidation in Public Life: progress report on recommendations
The Committee has published a progress report on recommendations it made three years ago in its report, Intimidation in Public Life.
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Intimidation in Public Life
In July 2017, the Committee was asked by the then Prime Minister, Theresa May, to undertake a review on the intimidation of Parliamentary candidates, considering the broader implications for all holders of public office. In December of that year, the Committee published its report, which made a package of recommendations to address the increasing prevalence of intimidation in public life.
We heard evidence of persistent and shocking intimidatory behaviour, including harassment, threatened violence and sexual violence, and damage to property. Much of that abuse was targeted at certain groups, and was accelerated and enabled by social media, which has increasingly played a role in political debate in recent years.
Intimidation also reflects broader concerns about our political culture. We heard evidence that intimidatory behaviour can itself stem from our current political climate, with low levels of public trust in politicians and a feeling of frustration and alienation by some people. Political turbulence since the 2016 referendum, Brexit and the current pandemic have likely made that worse.
Reviewing progress against the report’s recommendations
Three years on, we have taken the opportunity to review progress made against the report’s recommendations to government, political parties, the police, social media companies, press regulators and the media.
In September this year, we wrote to all of the political parties represented in Westminster; the National Police Chiefs Council; Twitter, Facebook and Google; and press regulators, IPSO and Impress, asking for an update on progress. The recommendation tracker shows what progress has been made against each recommendation; the second table gives further information around the progress of recommendations where that is useful.
It is clear that much has happened to tackle threats to public office holders since the publication of the Committee’s report in 2017, but there remains more to do, and at a greater pace – by everyone in public life.