Election candidates faced 'abuse and intimidation'

A candidate who contested a Yorkshire constituency in the general election has told the BBC about the "abuse and intimidation" she faced on the campaign trail.

Heather Iqbal, who ran in Dewsbury and Batley, even said she was followed by a man in a van who screamed insults at her.

She said the abuse amounted to harassment and that many of the comments were motivated by her stance on Gaza, as she was called a "genocide agent" and "child murderer".

The seat was won by independent Iqbal Mohamed, who won support from pro-Palestinian voters but who has condemned the behaviour his opponent endured.

Ms Iqbal was not the only candidate to report abuse during their campaigns, and the Home Secretary will now chair a meeting of a taskforce to look into the safety of MPs.

Ms Iqbal told the BBC: "It was relentless. There were a lot of horrible things circulating about my background, family and name.

"I could not go anywhere by myself during the campaign as I felt like I was being followed. When I went to small community meetings, pictures would emerge of me on social media later in the day entering and leaving venues. It left me feeling uncomfortable."

During the final week before the election, she said a van with Mohamed's face on the side followed the Labour doorstep team around Dewsbury with a man inside shouting insults with a megaphone.

Ms Iqbal added: "I understand how strongly the Muslim community feel about the situation in Gaza and know how awful some of the images of the conflict are.

"I'm a new mum and it is something I feel strongly about, but what people were saying about me is untrue. The way I was targeted was a way of inflaming emotions, but it was unhelpful, harmful, disrespectful and did not help deal with the situation."

Ms Iqbal's agent, Jackie Ramsey, also feared for the safety of the campaign team, who were told by a man to leave an area where they were not welcome or there would be "trouble". She contacted the police.

The group were also followed and called "baby murderers" and "zionists".

Ms Iqbal said she believed the Gaza issue had acted as a "touchpaper" for anger and tensions within the Muslim community in the two towns, which have suffered from deprivation, marginalisation and the loss of public services.

She added: "It's not just the Muslim community that feels like that. The white working-class community of Batley and Dewsbury feels the same way, in different ways and for different reasons.

"Gaza symbolises a lot of the pain but echoed how people felt they had been pushed to the fringes."

West Yorkshire Police said that while some incidents of "unpleasant language" on the campaign trail had been reported, they did not meet thresholds for criminal prosecutions.

Ms Ramsey said she was disappointed the force felt unable to act, especially given the murder of the former Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox in her constituency in 2016.

"I feel cross and angry that we should have got further on with unifying ourselves as communities, and yet we haven't."

Newly elected Mr Mohamed said: "Violence, threats, intimidation and abuse are not acceptable in an election campaign in Parliament or in society in general. Whoever engages in that is nothing to do with me and nothing to do with my campaign. I would condemn such behaviour by anyone."

He urged his supporters to reach out through "proper channels" if they were unhappy or facing challenges.

Mr Mohamed added: "However strong our feelings about things that are happening either locally, nationally or internationally, there is no excuse to not be kind and not be respectful to each other."

Bradford West MP Naz Shah, who retained her seat for Labour, said the 2024 election was a "whole new ball game" despite experiencing abuse in past campaigns.

In 2022 a Bradford woman was jailed for sending death threats to Ms Shah which caused her to flee her home.

The MP said that during the recent campaign there had been vandalism outside her office and that a youth on an e-bike told a doorstep volunteer that he was going to "set dogs" on her.

West Yorkshire Police confirmed they were investigating the above incident as a public order offence.

Her beaten opponent, independent candidate Ali Islam, said he sympathised with Ms Shah and had told his supporters to behave respectfully. He said he did not endorse violence or "toxic behaviour".

Home secretary Yvette Cooper said there had been an "alarming rise" in harassment and intimidation incidents.

She said she planned to hold talks with the major parties in the coming weeks.