Report: Growing intimidation undermines Britain's political freedom

London (dpa) - Intimidation of politicians and other public figures is increasing in Britain and "presents a threat to the very nature of representative democracy," a government report said on Wednesday.Racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic and anti-Semitic abuse had "put off candidates from standing for public office," said the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which reports to the prime minister."Addressing this intimidatory, bullying and abusive culture matters... for the freedom to discuss and debate issues and interests," the report said."While intimidation in public life is nothing new, the scale and intensity of intimidation is now shaping public life in ways which are a serious issue," it said.It accused social media companies of being "too slow in taking action on online intimidation to protect their users."Politicians had also "failed to show leadership in calling out intimidatory behaviour and changing the tone of political debate," it said.Paul Bew, the committee‘s chair, said the report‘s findings "should concern everyone who cares about our democracy.""This is not about defending elites from justified criticism or preventing the public from scrutinizing those who represent them: it is about defending the fundamental structures of political freedom," Bew said."A significant proportion of candidates at the 2017 general election experienced harassment, abuse and intimidation," he said."There has been persistent, vile and shocking abuse, threatened violence including sexual violence, and damage to property.He said use of social media platforms was "the most significant factor driving the behaviour we are seeing."