Misogyny and intimidation claims at county council

Allegations have been made of misogyny and intimidation directed against female councillors at a local authority.

The claims were made at a meeting of Oxfordshire County Council, when former Liberal Democrat councillor, Dr Lidia Arciszewska, spoke in support of a motion around violence against women and girls.

Arciszewska stopped short of publicly naming anyone, but listed several times when she said female politicians had been verbally abused by councillors, "some of whom sit in this very chamber," with no action being taken by the council.

A spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said they take all allegations of misogyny, sexism, bullying and abuse "extremely seriously."

Arciszewska spoke at the start of the meeting, alongside Sophie Roell, the wife of Witney MP Charlie Maynard, ahead of a discussion calling for more support to tackle violence against women and girls.

The motion included a recommendation for a "behaviour-change campaign" to challenge misogyny.

Arciszewska highlighted several allegations, both historical and more recent, including "manipulating images from published political literature to portray a female opponent as a witch," calling an officer "bulky waste" and planning a campaign against another councillor to "make her life hell".

The BBC has been unable to verify the claims, but understands they would be denied.

Roell also spoke of the victims in west Oxfordshire, describing a "pattern of behaviour" where women in public life are verbally abused.

"When they complain, nothing happens," she said.

She criticised the mechanisms for making a complaint to take action against "bad apples," asking the monitoring officer to find out if there are any more victims as "they are not hard to find".

A spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said all allegations of misogyny, sexism, bullying and abuse, are taken "extremely seriously".

"The council has an established process for considering complaints about the conduct of elected members, and anyone can submit a complaint under the member code of conduct. All complaints received are carefully considered by the Monitoring Officer and an independent person."

"We would encourage anyone with concerns about the conduct of an elected member to raise them through this process so that they can be properly considered," they added.