Devon councillor safety plan gathers pace after renewed fears over threats

Efforts to make local politicians safer are being considered by Devon’s largest council following a renewed push on the issue after the death of former MP Ann Widdecombe.

Options including a device such as a personal alarm, or even an app on each councillor’s mobile phone, are being discussed by Devon County Council.

Renewed focus on the safety of elected representatives emerged last month following the death of Ann Widdecombe at her Devon home.

Looking nationally, it is now just over a decade since Labour MP Jo Cox, who represented Batley and Spen, was murdered, while Conservative MP Sir David Amess, who represented Southend West, was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery in 2021.

Councillor Michael Fife Cook (Reform UK, Yelverton Rural) said he had raised the issue of the safety of local politicians following Ms Widdecombe’s death.

He met council leader Councillor Julian Brazil (Liberal Democrat, Kingsbridge) and chief executive Donna Manson in an effort to help develop a strategy.

“It is a growing issue,” he said, noting that councillors often attend parish council meetings without other council staff present.

There has been a rise in online abuse, including death threats, directed at councillors, while social media and email can make it easier for individuals to send harmful or offensive messages.

It is not clear whether physical violence against politicians is less common in Devon than verbal or digital abuse, as data on such incidents is sporadic and some incidents may not be reported.

However, the death of Ms Widdecombe has once again put the safety of politicians on the agenda.

One councillor, who is a member of one of Devon’s eight district councils but did not want to be identified, said they had recently received a series of death threats by voicemail.

“It started in late 2024, and while it is intermittent now, it happened repeatedly over a couple of months,” the councillor said.

They added that they were mostly able to “get on with the job”, but that it could be “unsettling” when working alone.

“Most of the time it just makes me quite angry,” the councillor said.

“Angry that someone thinks that it is appropriate to do this, when we live in an environment where two MPs have been murdered in 10 years.”

The councillor initially reported the death threats to a senior officer at their council and completed an online police report.

“But nothing came of it,” the councillor said.

“The senior council officer was shocked, but I don’t think there was a follow-up from the police and so I haven’t bothered since.”

The councillor said such threats had become “par for the course”, but warned that this could create a wider problem by discouraging people from standing for election.

“I know that it discourages people from standing in elections as one of the most difficult things is to recruit new people who are prepared to put themselves in harm’s way, and be in the public eye while making fundamentally difficult decisions that nobody wants to make.

“Frankly, every time an election comes around and we manage to field a full slate of candidates, it’s a minor miracle.”

A spokesperson for Devon County Council said: “We’ve been considering a range of options to increase the safety of our elected councillors, a device or personal alarm that members carry with them being one option.

“Other options might include an app on their mobile phone that could work in a similar way to a personal alarm.

“Nothing’s been decided yet. We’ve had an initial conversation with group leaders to start to talk about it, but whatever we decide, we’d want to work with all of our councillors to make sure it’s something that they agree with and would welcome.”

The issue was also raised recently by East Devon District Council leader Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley).

He said councillor safety would be a key focus for him after being elected leader of the district council for a seventh year following what he described as “a few ugly moments”.

“I’m really concerned about member safety,” he said in May.

“We are going to have to think about this very hard and there have been a few ugly moments in the past few months.”

He added that such “ugly moments” were happening across the country, with unacceptable behaviour being directed at elected members either online or, in some cases, in person.

Cllr Arnott, who is also deputy leader of Devon County Council, did not refer to any specific incidents at the time. However, national research supports his suggestion that councillors are facing abuse.

Research published by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) in 2024 found that nearly half of councillors had experienced “a serious incident of abuse”.