Isle of Wight Council signs up to Debate Not Hate campaign

Isle of Wight councillors unanimously agreed to join councils across the country in supporting the Local Government Association's Debate Not Hate campaign.

The motion was proposed by Councillor Karen Lucioni, Cabinet member for community protection, and received cross-party support at a meeting of the Full Council on Wednesday 17 January.

The move comes amid figures produced by the LGA which found that seven out of ten councillors had experienced abuse from the public in the last 12 months and one in ten experience abuse frequently.

Further research by the LGA reinforced concerns that abuse in public life and public discourse is becoming normalised and seriously affecting civic life and local democracy.

Councillor Lucioni said: "The intimidation and abuse of councillors, in person or otherwise, undermines democracy; preventing elected members from representing the communities they serve, deterring individuals from standing for election, and undermining public faith in democratic processes.

"Equally, officers, staff and contractors working for this council should be free to go about their duties without fear of threat and intimidation.

"This council puts people first and will not tolerate abuse of any kind. We appreciate at times services may fall below the standards residents are reasonably entitled to expect.

"This is why we have a robust complaints procedure where residents can raise concerns, and we will work with them to seek to ensure services are delivered to a high standard."

The LGA has been working for some time to build a better understanding of the issue of abuse and intimidation of elected members and what individuals, local organisations and national government can do to reverse this trend.

Their Debate Not Hate campaign aims to raise public awareness of the role of councillors in their communities, encourage healthy debate and respectful challenge, and improve the responses and support for local politicians facing abuse and intimidation.

The vulnerability of elected representatives has been at the forefront of the political sphere in recent years with high profile incidents like the murders of Jo Cox MP and Sir David Amess MP.

Council leader, Councillor Phil Jordan, added: "Democracy is at the heart of local government and councillors are as much part of the community they represent.

“While debating and disagreeing with each other are an integral part of the process, councillors should not be subjected to abuse and intimidation because of their role.

"In passing this motion, the Isle of Wight Council is fully committed to standing up against abuse and working to promote positive, constructive public and political debate within our community."

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