PM endorses recommendations from CSPL for action on intimidation in public life

Prime Minister Theresa May has used a speech marking the centenary of women’s right to vote, to endorse recommendations from the Committee on Standards in Public Life on actions that social media companies should take to counter intimidation of politicians.

These recommendations, published in December, included a call to scrap the legal requirement for local election candidates to have their home addresses published on the ballot paper, following evidence from councillors that disclosure of their addresses had led to threats and abuse.

The committee also said that returning officers should not disclose the home addresses of those attending an election count, while monitoring officers should ensure that members required to declare pecuniary interests were aware of the sensitive interests provisions in the Localism Act 2011.

This allows them to avoid disclosing a home address when making such a declaration.

Ms May said: “The social media companies themselves must now step up and set out how they will respond positively to those recommendations. So far, their response has been encouraging, and I hope they will continue in that spirit.”

She also called for an annual internet safety transparency report, to provide data on what offensive content is being reported, how social media companies are responding to complaints - and what material is being removed.

Speaking in Manchester, the prime minister said: “As we remember the heroic campaigners of the past, who fought to include the voices of all citizens in our public debate, we should consider what values and principles guide our conduct of that debate today.

“For while there is much to celebrate, I worry that our public debate today is coarsening. That for some it is becoming harder to disagree, without also demeaning opposing viewpoints in the process.”

The government will introduce a comprehensive new social media code of practice this year, she added.

Mark Smulian