‘A man threatened to shoot me’: the abuse pushing UK councillors out of politics

Heather Williams has been shouted at in the street, received death threats, threats of sexual violence, and had dog faeces left on her doorstep. At one point, she didn’t leave her home alone for more than three months.

It was not how she expected her life to be when she first ran to be a Conservative district councillor in South Cambridgeshire nine years ago.

“It is very intimidating. I’ve had people threatening to rape me in my sleep, a man once threatened to shoot me,” said Williams, now opposition group leader on the council. “You do question whether you’re doing the right thing, what impact it is having on your family. Even my daughter has security protocols now.”

Williams has installed extra security measures in her home including cameras, panic alarms and an app on her phone so she can be tracked if needed.

She is not the only one – a new survey from the Local Government Association (LGA) found that over a third (35%) of councillors have made modifications to their home for security reasons.

This includes CCTV cameras, alarms, installing electric gates, removing or sealing letterboxes, reinforcing doors and locks, carrying a rape alarm, getting a dog and putting up ‘Beware of the dog’ signs (despite not having a dog). Some have even moved house.

The annual Debate Not Hate survey of more than 1,500 councillors across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland showed over half (52%) believed abuse and intimidation had increased over the past year.

It also found that women, ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ councillors were being disproportionately pushed out of politics due to the high levels of abuse and harassment.

In total, 38% of women who were considering not standing again for election said they were doing so because of abuse and intimidation – for men, the figure was 23%.

Among ethnic minority respondents, 43% said abuse had influenced their decision to not stand again, compared with 28% of white respondents. For LGBTQ+ councillors, the figure stood at 41%.

Hannah Dalton, a councillor and LGA civility in public life ambassador, said the findings showed that abuse was “a direct threat to the strength, diversity and health of our democracy”.

“We must never accept a situation where harassment and personal attacks are simply regarded as part of public service,” she said. “It is deeply alarming that most councillors believe the problem is getting worse. This toxic culture is not only affecting those currently in office, it is deterring talented and committed people from standing for election in the first place.

The majority of respondents (78%) said they felt at personal risk fulfilling their roles as councillors, with the figure rising to 85% for female, ethnic minority, LGBT+ or disabled councillors.

A quarter of councillors said they had received threats of violence, and 7% had received a death threat.

In response to the growing wave of personal attacks levelled at councillors, they are no longer required to publish their home address on council websites. Each police force also now has at least one force elected official adviser dedicated to dealing with security concerns for politicians.

But the LGA said it was not enough, and it wanted the government, police and social media platforms to do more, with “formal arrangements” on tackling such abuse.