Councillors report surge in abuse during election, with minorities facing worst harassment

Shazad Fazal scrolled through his Facebook messages in the hours after winning re-election to Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire. Among the congratulations from constituents he'd served since 2021 were more than 200 posts of a different kind entirely. They called him a paedophile, a terrorist, asked how many women and children he had assaulted. Others told him to leave the country, to speak English, branded him a cancer fit for deportation. "I have been involved in politics since the age of 17 and I have never seen anything like this, not in any of my previous elections," Fazal told the BBC. He is not alone.

Across England's local councils, elected representatives from every party are reporting a sharp escalation in abuse—both online and in the street. The recent local elections appear to have been a breaking point. Nosheen Khalid, an independent councillor in Birmingham, faced AI-generated images of herself naked and semi-naked during her campaign for the Alum Rock seat, which she won. The moment she began canvassing, she was called slurs rooted in her Muslim faith. "The online abuse was just completely out of this world," she said. In Portsmouth, Charlotte Gerada, the pregnant leader of the local Labour party, was sworn at and called "Labour scum" while leaving a supermarket; police and the store are investigating. Mike Bird, the Conservative leader of Walsall Council until last Friday, lost his seat by seven votes after what he described as the worst election he'd ever fought. He contacted police over abusive online comments and watched the harassment ripple outward to his family. "Everyone reads it and the questions are put to my daughter and my granddaughter," he said. "One of the biggest issues in being an elected member is people think you are public property. Social media and politics is brutal."

The pattern is clear, but the roots run deeper. Dr. Charlotte Galpin, an associate professor in German and European politics at the University of Birmingham, traces the intensification to the Brexit referendum in 2016. That vote coincided with a shift toward toxic, aggressive, and hyper-masculine discourse that has since seeped into local politics. "This behaviour is sanctioned at political level, with the use of aggressive and violent language," she said. Legacy media outlets have played a role too, she argues—inviting comments on negative articles about politicians, which creates a norm on social media and monetizes the outrage through clicks. Her research reveals a hierarchy of harm: all public figures face abuse, but ethnic minorities face the worst of it, and within that group, women endure the most "deeply dehumanising" treatment.

The Local Government Association acknowledged that while councillors expect scrutiny and robust challenge, the line between debate and abuse has blurred into something corrosive. New protections have been introduced—legislation to shield councillors' home addresses, police safety advice for elected officials—but the LGA has called for a coordinated government response across all departments, with consistency in how offences against public office holders are investigated and prosecuted.

Fazal took a different approach. After naming the abusers on his page, he received a wave of support from residents, fellow councillors across party lines, and his MP. Meta removed the abusive comments, though Fazal noted the reporting mechanisms remain inadequate. "Over 200 abusive comments were posted on my page, and the reporting mechanisms are simply not good enough," he said. He has called on politicians of all parties to condemn abuse clearly and consistently, and on social media platforms to act faster. He also pointed to what he sees as a root cause: the language used by those in positions of influence. "When people in positions of influence use divisive and inflammatory language, it gives others permission to behave in the same way," he said, noting a significant rise in anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia since Reform UK's growth in popularity. Yet he ended on a note of hope. After the public response to his naming and shaming, he said he had "real hope." "The vast majority of people in Calderdale stand together against hate, and that unity is far stronger than the abuse we have seen," he said. "We are strongest when we stand together, and that is the spirit we must continue to build on."