I've never seen anything like the abuse during this election

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. I've never seen anything like the abuse during this election30 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleRebecca WoodsShazad FazalYorkshire-born Shazad Fazal was told to "speak English" and "get out of the UK"In the hours after he was re-elected, councillor Shazad Fazal scrolled through the messages he had been sent on Facebook. Several were congratulatory - he's a popular figure in the Park ward of Calderdale, West Yorkshire, having served there for Labour since 2021. But there were also more than 200 posts containing vile abuse, including branding him a paedophile and a terrorist, with another asking how many women and children he had sexually assaulted.

The Halifax-born politician was also told to "get out of the UK", "speak English" and another poster said he was a "cancer" who needed to be deported. "I have been involved in politics since the age of 17 and I have never seen anything like this, not in any of my previous elections," Fazal told the . Since outing the trolls on his page - who were mainly male but included some women - he has had a wave of support from residents, fellow councillors of different parties and Halifax MP Kate Dearden, who said she was "absolutely appalled".

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But Fazal's is not an isolated experience. Councillors of all parties and backgrounds have reported a significant increase in the abuse they have faced both in person and online, with last week's English local elections a tipping point for many. AI-generated naked imagesEarlier this week, councillor Yvonne Gagen said she was stepping down from leading West Lancashire Council, because politics had become "toxic".

"Politics has changed and become quite nasty. I've been spat at in a shop and called a traitor," the Labour councillor said. "I've been a councillor for 16 years.

I don't want to leave local politics, but I don't like the environment any more. "Nosheen Khalid, an independent councillor in Birmingham, said cyberbullies created AI-generated images of her naked, semi-naked and taking her hijab off, all during her successful campaign to win her Alum Rock seat. "The online abuse was just completely out of this world," she said, adding she was called the P-word as soon as she started canvassing.

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"It was the fact that I was a Muslim, attacking my faith, attacking me being a woman. "FacebookCouncillor Charlotte Gerada told followers she had been abused outside TescoAt a meeting this week, councillors in Portsmouth discussed the abuse they had faced in recent weeks. Pregnant Charlotte Gerada, leader of the local Labour party, said she had been sworn at and called "Labour scum" by a man, while leaving a branch of Tesco.

Police and the store are investigating. She argued Reform UK was contributing to a culture where "freedom of speech" means abuse had become regarded as acceptable. But the party's George Madgwich said Reform members had also reported "an incredibly large amount of abuse online and in person".

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.