Local Candidate Safety

The abuse, threats, and intimidation aimed at local political candidates and councillors have reached a critical tipping point. What was once considered a minority issue of "online noise" has turned into a pervasive problem that actively undermines our democracy.

Women, ethnic minority candidates, LGBTQ+ individuals, and disabled representatives bear the heaviest brunt of this toxic climate. When doorstep campaigning and local advocacy come with threats of violence, intimidation targeting family members, or published home addresses, the very foundation of open, community-based politics is shattered.

Liberal Democrats believe in robust debate, but we reject intimidation. Today, our members passed a clear, practical policy to protect local candidates, uphold personal privacy, and hold bad actors - including social media giants - accountable.

Protecting Candidate Privacy and Safety

Candidates should be accessible to their constituents, but that should never mean sacrificing their personal safety or exposing their families to harm:

• Remove Default Home Address Publishing: Amend election law so candidates are never required or defaulted to publish their private home address on nomination forms or ballots.
   
• Protect Agent Addresses: Allow election agents to use approved party office addresses rather than personal home addresses where safety or privacy is a concern.
   
• Validate Address Statements: Place a statutory duty on Returning Officers to validate candidates' home address statements securely, keeping personal details off public displays.
   
• Electoral Safety Code of Practice: Require the Electoral Commission to issue a clear safety and security code of practice for election officials to share directly with every candidate.

Standardising Police Protection Across the UK

While Operation Bridger supports MPs, local candidates and councillors rely on Operation Ford - a service that remains frustratingly inconsistent across different police force areas. We are calling for:

• Consistent Enforcement of Operation Ford: Place a legal duty on all police forces to apply Operation Ford systematically, train frontline officers, and publish annual data on local candidate safety incidents.
   
• Assess Cumulative Abuse: Require police and prosecutors to evaluate repetitive, targeted abuse as a cumulative campaign of harassment, rather than treating isolated incidents in a vacuum.
   
• Protecting Families and Staff: Make hostility directed at the spouses, children, or staff of candidates a statutory aggravating factor in criminal sentencing, carrying automatic disqualification under the Elections Act.
   
• National Support Service & Security Grants: Create a UK-wide support service offering confidential advice, fast-tracked police escalation, and Home Office-funded grants for personal panic alarms and home security for high-risk targets.

Holding Social Media Platforms Accountable

Social media has turned online harassment into a scalable tool for intimidation. We are putting statutory duties on tech platforms to act quickly:

• Dedicated Human Escalation Lines: Require social media platforms operating in the UK to provide a human-staffed rapid response helpline for political party HQs and official support bodies to report severe threats.
   
• Statutory Duty of Care: Enforce strict statutory responsibilities on tech platforms to swiftly remove illegal threats and targeted harassment aimed at local representatives.

Decent people from all walks of life must be able to put themselves forward to serve their communities without fearing for their safety or the well-being of their loved ones. 

The Liberal Democrats are taking a stand to protect our local representatives, safeguard free speech, and defend the integrity of British democracy.