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Local Councillors: Recruitment, Retention and Well-being

My Lords, for my contribution, I wish to place on record a statement by Councillor Lisa Hinton, deputy leader of Cumbria—one of Cumbria’s finest councillors—on the scale of abuse that she has been receiving:

“The abuse I receive online is not abstract—it is personal, relentless, and at times shocking. I have been called ‘stupid’, ‘not intelligent’, and subjected to constant comments about my appearance—told I am ‘too fat’, mocked, dismissed, and reduced to something less than human. I have read comments blaming me for serious crimes, including statements that if ‘anyone is raped by an illegal, it will be your fault’ or ‘You are a risk to our women’.

Now people are feeling braver and the abuse is to my face. I have sat in council meetings and heard people shout at me ‘traitor’, ‘you are on warning’ and ‘you have blood on your hands’. I’ve started to fear going. It has been getting worse over the last 6 months; we see the questions coming in mainly framed around immigration. The response from Council is more police, more security at the meeting—but no pastoral support for us. No thought to the wider implications on us as councillors and our mental health, because after hearing fifty people shouting, you still have to go home, put tea on, help with homework, and be a mum. But it stays with you. It hurts.

If this is what public service looks like, fewer people will choose it. Why would you? I could write thousands of words with examples of the hatred I’ve received over the last few years, abuse towards councillors needs to be tackled and stopped before anyone is seriously hurt”.

These are the words of Councillor Lisa Hinton. Lisa is calling for more support. I want more than that: I want action against the bully boys. No councillor should have to put up with this bullying and abuse. I rest my case.

12.47 pm