Women put off politics by abuse - council leader

Councillor Linda Taylor said abuse of women in politics needed to be "called out"

The leader of Cornwall Council has said abuse and harassment is putting women off from standing for election.

Conservative Councillor Linda Taylor received cross-party applause when she told the council this week that such behaviour "cannot and will not be tolerated".

Ms Taylor said unacceptable behaviour needed to be "called out".

Earlier Liberal Democrats Councillor Thalia Marrington said a group of women had told her they were concerned politics was a "toxic environment".

She said: "I was sat with a group of women and when I asked would any of you think about stepping forward [into politics], the same things came up like 'oh my goodness, I couldn’t even think about it', 'toxic environment', 'you're fair game for everything'."

Ms Taylor said abuse of women in politics was "something I've experienced", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

She said: "I would have to say quite clearly that this behaviour has to be called out.

"Unfortunately this appears to be an acceptable standard for some people to challenge elected members.

“We have to change the behaviour. We have to make sure that it is not acceptable for anybody outside of this chamber to treat elected members with such disrespect and to be so horrible and harmful.”

She added she believed abuse was affecting women more than men.

"It’s because of this that we are seeing some females are choosing not to stand again or even thinking of coming forward for election."