Candidates across the country are facing death threats, racial abuse and intimidation during this year’s local and devolved elections, with parties and campaigners warning that the climate of hostility represents one of the gravest dangers to democratic participation in modern times.
Elections for councils in England and governments in Scotland and Wales take place on Thursday, with millions expected to vote, but the campaign trail itself has become a battleground for many standing for office. The Green party said this year had been the worst in memory, with some candidates receiving death threats and being “yelled at or chased down the street”. A party spokesperson said “wildly false claims” had been made about the party and its representatives, which some members of the public had “accepted on face value”. The security minister, Dan Jarvis, condemned “the rising tide of vile abuse, harassment and intimidation aimed towards elected officials and candidates” online and in person, adding: “Anyone engaging in this sort of behaviour is directly attacking our democracy and we all must do more to stop it becoming normalised.”
In the West Midlands, the Labour mayor Richard Parker told the BBC he was threatened and followed while campaigning in Coventry. In Birmingham, the Green party candidate Hanooshi Hassan said he was “accosted” by campaigners supporting an independent group of candidates while leafleting at a mosque. He was repeatedly told the Green party was the “gay party” and was threatened with violence. “There was homophobia immediately,” he said. “They were being very loud and boisterous, calling us the gay party and saying that we want to turn their kids gay.” He added that one of the men “threatened to beat me up”. West Midlands police confirmed it had received two reports of alleged harassment on Dudley Road on 17 and 24 April and that enquiries were ongoing.
Bishop Desmond Jaddoo, an independent candidate also standing in Birmingham and not aligned with the group involved in the incident with Hassan, said he had received sustained racial abuse during the campaign, mainly online. After distributing leaflets on Monday, he said an unknown caller told him: “Listen you black bastard, do not put anything else through my letterbox. I’m voting Reform.” Jaddoo said much of the abuse he had received online was “fuelled by rightwing rhetoric”. “I think the way political parties are speaking, they are stoking racial discrimination and they are damaging race relations in this country,” he added.
The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, criticised Elon Musk in April after he detailed how his party’s candidates from minority ethnic backgrounds were being subjected to “utterly appalling abuse” on X, which Musk owns. Meanwhile, Labour released a dossier alleging that dozens of Reform UK candidates had posted offensive content online, including racist and conspiracy theory material. Specific examples included a candidate calling for a “white Britain”, complaining about “kowtowing to the black community”, and endorsing far-right activists. Another candidate allegedly questioned the value of protecting “granny” in relation to vaccines and suggested the NHS should be “canned”. A Reform UK candidate in Surrey, Harry Phillips, is accused of mocking disabled residents and using offensive language. Two other Reform UK candidates were accused of making offensive social media posts, including racist and sexist messages, and retweeting anti-Islam comments. Three Reform UK candidates were reportedly expelled for alleged former membership of the British National Party.
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) released a statement on Tuesday condemning “reports of increased racial and Islamophobic harassment of candidates in the run up to the Scottish parliament elections”. A spokesperson for Plaid Cymru said online discourse had “become increasingly toxic” and suggested Reform UK tactics foster a “toxic environment”. In Wales, a former Green party council leader, Sean Morgan, reported significant abuse from Reform UK supporters during campaigning for the Senedd election, describing it as “unreal”. Another Green candidate, Alexis Celnik, likened the abuse to a toxic football match atmosphere. In Chiswick Riverside, Green candidate Rick Rowe said he was called “antisemitic” and an “evil communist” by a Conservative campaigner, and later received a Nazi salute from an unknown individual. He also had dog excrement thrown at his house.
Impact on democracy and participation
The Jo Cox Foundation, founded after the Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in 2016 by a far-right extremist, said there were clear signs the problem is getting worse. Olivia Field, the organisation’s chief executive, said: “Too many candidates, their families and their teams, from all sides of the political spectrum, have experienced abuse, harassment and threats during this year’s elections. This represents one of the biggest threats to the functioning of our democracy. Increasingly, people do not feel safe enough to fully participate in politics. Some are choosing not to stand at all, while others are self-censoring or limiting how they engage with voters. Elections should be a contest of ideas, not an endurance test against intimidation.”
Evidence from previous elections illustrates the scale of the problem. During the 2024 general election, the Electoral Commission said “many candidates experienced unacceptable levels of intimidation and harassment”, in particular women and candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds. More than half of the candidates surveyed by the commission said they avoided some form of campaigning because of fear of abuse. A separate survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) in 2025 found that 7 in 10 councillors reported experiencing abuse or intimidation in the past year. The Electoral Commission’s research into the May 2024 local elections found that 43% of candidates surveyed reported some form of abuse or intimidation, rising to 56% when presented with specific scenarios. For the May 2025 local elections, that figure rose again, with 61% of candidates experiencing harassment or security threats. The commission also reported that women were twice as likely to experience abuse as men in the 2024 general election, and those from minority ethnic backgrounds were three times as likely. The Committee on Standards in Public Life examined candidate abuse in 2017 and noted its disproportionate impact on certain groups.
The abuse is not confined to any single party. The LGA has launched campaigns such as “Debate Not Hate” to address rising abuse towards councillors. The Jo Cox Foundation’s “Call to Action” reports have highlighted the scale of abuse and its threat to democracy, emphasising that intimidation disproportionately affects women, candidates from minority ethnic and religious backgrounds, and LGBT+ individuals. The foundation also notes that online abuse is a significant deterrent to encouraging others to stand for office.
The government has introduced new measures to protect candidates. Ahead of the May elections, a new national police unit has been established to target offenders, bringing together specialist officers and intelligence experts. Operation Ford, which provides dedicated police support to MPs, is being widened to include candidates for the Welsh Senedd and Scottish Parliament. The government is also engaging with social media platforms under the Online Safety Act, which imposes legal duties on technology companies to identify and remove illegal content, including threats. The Elections Act 2022 introduced “disqualification orders” that can ban individuals convicted of intimidatory behaviour from standing for election for five years. The Representation of the People Bill 2024-26 proposes extending those orders to cover all election staff and allowing intimidation to be cited as an aggravating factor in sentencing.
The Electoral Commission will publish its full report on the 2026 elections, including findings on abuse and intimidation, in the autumn. It remains unknown how widespread abuse and harassment has been on the campaign trail this year, but the testimony of candidates and the cumulative research point to a deepening crisis that risks normalising hostility as a routine part of standing for public office.
