Councillors speak out about online abuse

An Oldham councillor who received ‘online threats to her life’ broke into tears during a council meeting while explaining how her family was left ‘scared and horrified’. 

Coun Lisa Navesey and Coun Marc Hince spoke about online abuse they received after snippets of a meeting recorded without their consent were leaked online.

The recordings were taken by Coun Mark Kenyon after Labour lost overall control of the council, when all political groups were meeting to secure support during an upcoming leadership challenge. 

During the recorded meeting, independent councillors Navesey and Hince brokered a deal with the Labour group, agreeing to support their administration in key elections in exchange for support and advice on their priorities such as the inquiry into historic child sexual exploitation.

Earlier this week Coun Kenyon was found in breach of council standards following an 18-month and £10,000 investigation and he has apologised for the secret recording. 

The brokering of political deals in a case of no overall control is common practice, according to an independent investigator who has looked into the situation.

Coun Navesey said: “The next day [after the recording was leaked] I received messages of abuse, online threats.

"I consider myself a strong person, but this broke me.

"I found myself asking myself why I had stood at all. 

“When the full council rolled around, I was dreading it. I was scared and shaking.

"I wanted the best for my constituents [and decided to vote with] Labour.

"As soon as I’d voted, I was portrayed as scum and a traitor by people behind fake profiles.” 

Breaking into tears, she went on: “This has affected my life.

"My children read every threat, every form of abuse.

"My 15 year old grandson has seen pictures of me with a noose around my neck.” 

Coun Hince also shared his experience, which he claims affected his mental and physical health and his employment. 

“My children were frightened to go to school,” he said.

“A large part of that was because of this one individual. And we’ve had no apology.” 

Their testimonials were met with mixed reactions, including laughter and sarcastic ‘aws’.

Almost all the councillors at Oldham say they have experienced substantial online abuse, minority hatred, and threats to their lives and loved ones, with fellow councillors and ‘outside agitators’ regularly accused of inciting pile-ons. 

The councillors had to make a special request to speak at the meeting as their statements had not been planned.

The meeting voted to allow this but the debate was heated and included a 20-minute break for people to calm down. 

The spat followed on from a committee meeting held on November 11, which found Kenyon in breach of council standards following an 18-month and £10,000 investigation. 

Responding to the two councillors, Coun Mark Kenyon said: “I repeat the apology I freely made back in July 2024 and which the standards subcommittee asked me to repeat yesterday.” 

The councillor had previously written an apology in which he expressed his ‘regret’ and said ‘if I could turn back the clock, I absolutely would do’.

The letter was passed to the monitoring officer but was reportedly not passed on to the relevant councillors. 

The Leader of Oldham’s Liberal Democrats, Howard Sykes, added: “I have sympathy for your family and that of Coun Navesey’s – because we don’t put our families on the ballot papers.

"But there’s other of us in this chamber that have received abuse courtesy of things you have done Mr Hince, and that’s not pleasant at all.”

Coun Hince denied this allegation.

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