Election candidates faced threats, abuse and racism

The Home Office said it takes reports of intimidation, harassment and abuse 'extremely seriously'

Politicians are calling for a “de-escalation of violence” after some candidates claimed they suffered threats, abuse and racism during the general election campaign.

In Sussex, candidates and their teams reported physical attacks, dog bites, bomb threats, vandalism and racist online abuse which “stirred up hatred”.

The Home Office said it takes reports of intimidation, harassment and abuse "extremely seriously".

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will chair a special meeting about candidate safety next week after an “alarming rise” in intimidation and harassment.

A councillor in West Sussex was hospitalised with a head injury after being attacked while putting up a Conservative campaign poster in Sompting.

In another incident, a bomb scare was made against the party’s constituency office in Horsham after a suspicious package was received.

James MacCleary, the new Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, said despite the party being very mindful of the safety of volunteers and having procedures to protect them, two people suffered dog bites whilst delivering leaflets.

'Designed to intimidate'

Independent candidate Tanushka Marah’s campaign office in Hove was vandalised and the door glued shut.

She says she also suffered “shocking” racist abuse online using phrases she “hadn’t heard since the 1980s” which “whipped up hatred”.

After demonstrations outside her campaign events, she stopped leaving to go home alone.

She said: “When you’re a woman of colour and there’s a row of mostly men holding placards with the word ‘rape’ it is designed to intimidate you.”

Another independent candidate, Emma Wall, said she felt uncomfortable having to put her home address, instead of a political party office, on leaflets sent to 70,000 people.

She said: “I suddenly had this realisation that if someone didn’t like what I was saying, it wouldn’t have been very difficult at all for them to come and harass me.

"It definitely subdued by campaigning.”

Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said there will be a review of candidate experiences

Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, who was subjected to a long-running campaign of harassment and is now a national lead on the safety of politicians, said: “What I would like to see is a de-escalation of this violence.

“The whole point of the democracy that we live in that you can say what you want to whom you want.

"We need to defend that as politicians but also as citizens of this country.”

She said there would be be a review of candidate experiences and how police forces dealt with them so lessons can be learned.