Cllr Ann le Blond

Conservative member for Cambuslang West

As a councillor it is my privilege to have been voted in to the council in May.

I have been here for about six months and have enjoyed getting to know the job and my colleagues. I have met lots of lovely people who voted for me and some who did not.

I understand that we all have different party politics, but the council is about getting things right for the people of South Lanarkshire and not always about political point scoring. I have enjoyed getting to know the councillors in different parties and have even managed to find things that we all agree on.

I recently took the decision to delete my Twitter account due to the comments that were being made to me and to some of my followers defending my party’s actions in the Scottish Parliament and Westminster, which I have very little bearing over.

This is a difficult job but to then have to deal with unwanted comments and abuse online and in public is unacceptable.

In July, the Prime Minister commissioned the independent and respected Committee on Standards in Public Life to undertake a review into abuse and intimidation that many parliamentary candidates – across the political spectrum – experienced in the 2017 general election.

This is a welcome but hard-hitting report, which highlights how public figures are routinely subject to unjustifiable abuse, fuelled by social media.

There are a number of areas that provide emerging consensus for action - including greater transparency on online campaigning, proper intervention by social media companies, and effective enforcement of criminal law.

I wouldn’t want my children to be bullied online so why do we find it acceptable to act like this towards public figures? Surely we should want to eradicate this behaviour and as adults maybe consider the next time how we say something.

Marking the publication of the report on December 13, the prime minister said: “The committee’s report provides a body of evidence showing the extent and seriousness of the problem.

“It considers the risks to freedom of speech, diversity, and debate and to our representative democracy if action is not taken. We need to protect our freedom of speech and the vitality of our political system, and the freedom and diversity of participation in that system, as well as ensuring the integrity of the democratic process. All those in public life need to demonstrate their opposition to intimidation and call it out, and report it when they see it. We must all work together to combat this issue.”

I hope that anyone in my constituency feels that they can call out any councillor and hold them to account, but it would be wise to remember that hurtful comments are exactly that and we need to remember that by accepting bad behaviour it is just breeding more hate that our younger generation will think is tolerable.