B

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 12 February 2026

Debate

Security of Candidates, MPs and Elections

Contribution

My Lords, I welcome the imminent publication of the representation of the people Bill and I trust that it is radical and will include recommendations, as my noble friend said, from the Speaker’s Conference. The Jo Cox Foundation, which I chair, called for the Bill to embed standards of conduct, make personal addresses private by default, address online harms, disseminate candidate safety resources and promote political, digital and media literacy. Can my noble friend assure me that those elements will be addressed in the Bill? Violence, abuse and intimidation threaten trust in politics and the functioning of our democracy. We are in desperate need of a political culture in which everyone can safely participate in respectful, robust debate in the spirit of Jo Cox’s message that we have more in common than that which divides us.

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