Brentwood Lib Dems on Twitter: NO to cyber-bullying

Responding to the news of a parody account set up on Twitter, Brentwood Liberal Democrats would like to clarify that their only official party feed is @LibDemsBwd and asks tweeters to check that they are following the right one.

Sadly, an individual or group of individuals has turned to the social networking site to ridicule a specific Liberal Democrat candidate in this year's council elections, consistently attacking her work in the community, such as getting a review of the signage on J28 on the M25, and her work with animal charities.

Cllr David Kendall, Lib Dem group leader, said:

"Cyber-bullying is a very nasty activity and whoever is doing this is setting a very poor example indeed, particularly to the younger members of the community.

"It is disappointing to note that the lone Labour councillor and five Conservative councillors (including the leader of the Council) are following this mysterious rogue tweeter and in doing so appearing to actively encourage this behaviour. In my view politicians from all parties should be coming out and strongly condemning this activity and stating quite clearly that it has no place in Brentwood local politics.

"I find it very disappointing that this is targeting an excellent community campaigner who has worked hard for residents in her area and made a real difference."

Direct.gov has published advice on cyber-bullying that states that cyber-bullying can take the form of "Setting up profiles on social networking sites to make fun of someone" and "….by visiting these pages or contributing to them, you become part of the problem and add to the feelings of unhappiness felt by the victim."

We hope residents continue to enjoy our Twitter feed, Facebook page and website in a positive and adult way.