Councillors across England say they are facing an unprecedented wave of abuse, with the recent local elections acting as a flashpoint for harassment both online and in person.
Shazad Fazal, a Labour councillor in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, said he received more than 200 abusive messages on Facebook after being re-elected. They included being called a paedophile, a terrorist, and being told to "get out of the UK" and "speak English."
"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 said.
His experience is far from unique. Councillor Yvonne Gagen announced she was stepping down from leading West Lancashire Council because politics had become "toxic." She reported being spat at in a shop and called a traitor.
Nosheen Khalid, an independent councillor in Birmingham, said cyberbullies created AI-generated images of her naked and without her hijab during her campaign. She was also subjected to racial and religious slurs.
In Portsmouth, pregnant Labour leader Charlotte Gerada said she was sworn at and called "Labour scum" outside a Tesco. Police are investigating.
Conservative councillor Mike Bird, who lost his seat in Walsall after 46 years, described this election as the worst he had ever fought, with online abuse forcing him to contact police.
Reform UK's George Madgwich acknowledged his party's members also face abuse, including threats through their doors and being physically chased.
Dr Charlotte Galpin, a politics expert at the University of Birmingham, linked the rise in abuse to a more aggressive political discourse since the 2016 Brexit vote, amplified by social media and legacy media monetising outrage.
The Local Government Association's 2025 'Debate Not Hate' survey found increasing numbers of councillors are experiencing "vitriolic abuse" that is pushing them out of public life.