We are pleased to prepare a briefing for the second reading of the recently published Representation of the People Bill.
We support the bill’s provisions to address harassment including: removing the requirement for agents’ home addresses to be published, improving communication between candidates and the police, extending the disqualification order to include hostility towards election staff, and making hostility an aggravating factor in sentencing.
Our key calls to strengthen the bill include: embedding standards of conduct through requirements for political parties, dissemining candidate safety resources consistently and addressing online harms through a code of practice for social media platforms.
The Jo Cox Foundation makes meaningful change on issues that the late Jo Cox MP was passionate about. The charity works in two areas: nurturing stronger communities and championing respect in politics. Underpinning this work is the understanding that we have more in common than that which divides us. Jo Cox was murdered on 16 June 2016 in the place she loved – Batley and Spen – doing the work she loved, as an MP on behalf of her constituents.
Our Respectful Politics and Jo Cox Civility Commission work sees abuse and intimidation of elected representatives as a threat to democracy. Our long-term vision is a political culture where everyone can safely participate in respectful, robust debate in the spirit of Jo’s message that we have “more in common than that which divides us.”
In January, our Chair, Baroness Jan Royall set out our priority calls to action for the elections bill: embedding standards of conduct; making personal addresses private by default; addressing online harms; disseminating candidate safety resources; and promoting political, digital and media literacy.
We welcome the publication of the bill and are pleased to be coordinating with other civil society organisations across the democracy sector.