Efforts to make local politicians safer are being considered by Devon’s largest council after a renewed push following 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 impetus over the safety of elected representatives emerged last month in the wake of the tragic death of Ann Widdecombe at her Devon home.
Looking nationally, it’s now just over a decade since the Labour MP, Jo Cox, who represented Batley and Spen, was murdered, while the Conservative member for Southend West, Sir David Amess, 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 after Ms Widdecombe’s death.
He met with the council’s leader, Councillor Julian Brazil (Liberal Democrat, Kingsbridge) and its chief executive, Donna Manson to try and help instigate a strategy.
“It is a growing issue,” he said, noting that councillors often attend the likes of parish council meetings without other council staff.
There is a rise in online abuse, including death threats, levelled at councillors, and sending messages on social media or via email makes it easier for individuals to make harmful or offensive statements.
It’s not clear whether physical violence against politicians in Devon is less common than verbal or digital abuse, because data on such incidents is sporadic or perhaps not even reported; but the shocking death of Ms Widdecombe has thrust the issue of the safety of politicians back up 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 suffered a period of death threats being left by voicemail.
“It started in late 2024, and while it is intermittent now, it happened repeatedly over a couple of months,” the councillor said.
The councillor added they were mostly able to “get on with the job” but that it did make it “unsettling” if they were 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 incidents of death threats to a senior officer at their council, and filled in 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 added that such threats had become “par for the course” but that this could create a subsequent issue of discouraging people to run as a local politician.
“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 topic was raised recently by East Devon District Council’s leader, Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley) too.
He said councillor safety would be a key focus for him after being elected the leader of the district council for the seventh year after a “few ugly moments”.
“I’m really concerned about member safety,” he said back 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 all over the country”, and that unacceptable behaviour was being targeted at elected members either online or sometimes in person.
Cllr Arnott, who is also the deputy leader at Devon County Council, did not reference any specific incidents at the time. However, research conducted nationally supports his suggestion.
In 2024, the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) revealed research that showed nearly half of all councillors had suffered “a serious incident of abuse”.
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