Meeting documents

52          Intimidation in Public Life – review by the Committee on Standards in Public Life

A report was submitted which requested that a review undertaken by the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) be noted. The review was available at the link on page 8 of the Agenda.

The report stated that the CSPL published its review on Intimidation in Public Life in December 2017 with its findings and recommendations set out within the review. The recommendations included a variety of provisions, summarised below:

• social media companies taking greater responsibility to remove illegal material appearing on their sites;
• political parties and their leaders exercising a greater duty of care towards candidates members and supporters and taking action to address unacceptable intimidation by demonstrating leadership in accordance with the Nolan Principles;
• the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) should produce accessible guidance for Parliamentary candidates giving clear advice on behaviour they may encounter which could be a criminal offence, and how to react to it;
• Government holding a consultation on a potential new electoral offence of intimidating candidates, and legislate to remove the requirement for local candidates to have their addresses published on ballot papers and for Returning Officers not to have to disclose the home addresses of those attending election counts;
• MPs to co-operate with the Police to address security threats;
• the NPCC to ensure local forces are properly trained to effectively investigate social media offences and work with the CPS to produce guidance on behaviour encountered in campaigning and identify criminal behaviour and act accordingly;
• for all in public life to uphold the highest standards of conduct,  refraining from highly personalised attacks and reporting intimidatory behaviour;
• Press regulation bodies to have a code of conduct discouraging unacceptable language likely to incite intimidation and only use stories from journalists who subscribe to the same code; and
• for Council Monitoring Officers to highlight the circumstances in which the law allows certain sensitive information connected with Disclosable Pecuniary Interests to be withheld from publication.

It was noted that the Monitoring Officer had already actioned the final bullet point above by including an article in a recent edition of Members’ Update.

The Monitoring Officer stated that the review had been driven by the CSPL’s concern regarding intimidation in public life and the perceived threat to representative democracy in the UK. Members were requested to note the CSPL’s interest in this issue nationally and that it would follow up progress on implementation of its recommendations.

In considering the report a Member disagreed with the recommendation seeking to change the law to address the issue of how candidate details were published. He felt that it was important for voters to be aware of addresses and to know if the candidates were also local residents. The Monitoring Officer indicated that the CSPL would be aware that a balance needed to be struck between democratic publicity and ensuring safety in public duties and life and that this recommendation was for Government to consider legislation, rather than an immediate change in the law.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.