The Speaker’s Conference on the security of MPs, candidates, and elections has finally produced results — and the timing could not be more pointed. With local and mayoral elections just weeks away in May, the Government, Electoral Commission, and National Police Chiefs’ Council have all formally responded to the Conference’s recommendations.
The centrepiece is a new campaigning code of conduct, developed jointly by the Electoral Commission and party leaders, that aims to establish baseline standards for political campaigning. Think of it as the Geneva Convention for leafleting — though whether anyone will actually follow it is another matter entirely.
The Numbers Are Damning
The Conference’s findings make grim reading. Ninety-six percent of MPs reported experiencing some form of abuse. Threats of violence against candidates increased 340% between 2019 and 2024. Female candidates and candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds face disproportionate targeting. Three sitting MPs now require 24-hour police protection.
These aren’t abstract statistics. Jo Cox was murdered in 2016. Sir David Amess was killed in 2021. The threat is real, it is escalating, and it is driving talented people away from public service at precisely the moment the country needs them most.
What the Reforms Actually Do
The package includes enhanced police coordination during election periods, new guidance on social media threats, and — controversially — provisions allowing candidates to use “service addresses” rather than their home addresses on ballot papers. This last measure, pushed hard by backbenchers from all parties, addresses the increasingly common practice of extremist groups publishing candidates’ home addresses online.
Ofcom has also been brought into the framework, with a new remit to monitor election-related disinformation on social media platforms. The regulator will have powers to require takedowns of content that constitutes a direct threat to candidates, though civil liberties groups have already raised concerns about the breadth of these provisions.
Will It Make a Difference?
The honest answer is: probably not enough. A code of conduct is only as good as its enforcement, and the Electoral Commission has historically lacked the teeth to punish bad actors. The police, meanwhile, are stretched thin after years of budget cuts and are already warning that they cannot guarantee the level of protection the Conference recommends.
What we really need is a fundamental conversation about the kind of political culture we want. But that conversation requires political courage, and courage is in short supply in Westminster right now.