By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
The leader of Broxtowe Borough Council says increasing abuse and death threats against politicians is an issue that is “not going away” as the authority looks to tighten protections around the issue.
Cllr Milan Radulovic (Lab), the leader of the Labour-run authority, said he is no stranger to abuse in his role.
During a full council meeting on Wednesday, October 11, he said he had once been accompanied by armed escorts while campaigning in Eastwood in 2001 following death threats.
He says he has also been sent letters with razor blades hidden under the slip of the envelope in the 1980s.
More recently he says he had to seek an injunction against a woman from Beeston who had been harassing him.
The issue was being discussed as Cllr Richard MacRae (Ind) proposed a motion asking the council to take “a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of councillors and officers.”
“It did affect my family life, it did affect me and it caused me a great deal of concern,” Cllr Radulovic said of his experiences with abuse and harassment.
“We’ve had letters with razor blades in them. We’ve had death threats which we take extremely seriously. This is not an issue that is going away.
“It needs further consideration and it needs the council to draw up a connected policy to deal with all levels including the use of injunctions.
“Whether it is a member of the Conservative Group, the independents or the Labour Group, if that person feels so intimidated they can no longer represent their constituents in a democracy, democracy is dead.
“We will not allow it to die.”
Cllr Richard MacRae, who worked in door security for 13 years before becoming a councillor in 2014, said the abuse he receives now is worse than when he was a doorman.
His motion seeks to ensure the council has a way for councillors to monitor and record incidents of harassment, and that it will also work with Nottinghamshire Police to create a joined-up mechanism for reporting threats and other concerns about the safety of councillors and their families.
During Full Council it was also agreed the matter would be referred to the Governance and Standards Committee to consider it in more detail to enable the committee to work with officers to develop a policy on the council’s approach to abuse.
Cllr MacRae added: “We want them to know they will be protected and looked after and all that nonsense just needs to stop.”
While the motion was carried, some Conservative councillors abstained from the vote.
Cllr Philip Owen (Con) said while he has before been called things such as a “slimy little toad”, he argued they can be ignored.
“I have grave concerns we are blowing this up out of all proportion when many of us, and some of us have been around an awful long time, have not experienced this at all,” he said.
“And it really is, I think, a very, very small minority and perhaps they ought to reflect on why they are singled out.”
However Cllr MacRae raised the case of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed in a politically-motivated murder in 2016, and added: “You have only got to look at what happened to people like Jo Cox to make this more real, and I am glad you haven’t received it yourself [cllr Owen].
“It is not nice when it does happen.”
