Banning social media trolls from voting could help reduce the amount of abuse faced by politicians, the election watchdog has said.
The Electoral Commission says legislation around elections should be reviewed and new offences could be introduced.
In the commission’s submission to a committee on standards in public life inquiry into the intimidation of political candidates, officials say many offences under electoral law date back to the 1800s or earlier.
They say some electoral offences can result in an offender being disqualified from voting or from registering to vote. Such deterrents could be considered to stop abusive people, the submission says.
“In some instances electoral law does specify offences in respect of behaviour that could also amount to an offence under the general, criminal law. It may be that similar special electoral consequences could act as a deterrent to abusive behaviour in relation to candidates and campaigners,” it states. A BBC survey has found that 87% of MPs say they experienced abuse during the 2017 general election campaign. Half (51%) of the MPs who responded to the Radio 5 Live survey said it was the worst election campaign they had experienced in terms of abuse.
One Labour MP said someone had threatened to bomb her office, and another MP claimed to have had a “bottle smashed on me”. The anonymous survey received responses from 113 of the UK’s 650 MPs.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said Theresa May viewed the abuse and intimidation of candidates during the election as unacceptable.
“She asked the a committee on standards in public life to have a look at that and we’ll see what they come back with,” the spokeswoman said. “More generally, I think what she would say is that there is a clear difference between legitimate scrutiny and conduct that is fuelled by hate and personal abuse.”
