A leading Conservative politician in Cornwall has said this has been the worst General Election he has ever seen for people behaving "despicably" after he was abused and shouted at in front of his young daughter while voting in Newquay.
Louis Gardner - who is the Tory councillor for Newquay Central & Pentire - took to social media to speak out after he was heckled and abused at a polling station yesterday morning. He said: "The General Election ... it's literally the worst I've ever seen. I've been involved in a few elections now. I've never seen people behave so despicably - candidates, all the people associated with them, members of the public. It's the most hateful, horrible thing I think I've ever seen in a British election."
Mr Gardner - who sits on the Cabinet at Cornwall Council as portfolio holder for economy - took his daughter along to vote that morning, which was her first time in a polling station. She was interested to find out more about voting as she had elections at school that day.
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"I thought I'd show her why it's important we vote," said Mr Gardner. "Some idiot, in front of his children, thought it was a really good idea to try and heckle me, shout at me, abuse me and have a got at me. That's in front of my daughter and his children, who go to the same school as my daughter. I don't know what made him think that was big or clever.
"We live in a British society where we've got different political views - it's what makes the world go round. It's what makes us better than China, but we seem to have come to a place where it's not okay for people to think differently. Of course it's okay - we should be encouraging each other to not have the same political views, we should be encouraging each other to have different ideas.
"Just because your views are different from mine, it doesn't mean that I'm right and you're wrong. Just because your opinions are different to mine, they are equally valid."
He added: "It was a really, really sad thing to see this morning that people think that the best thing to do, and the best way to exercise their political opinions, is to abuse someone at a polling station. But it's not unusual from what I've seen from this campaign. We need to get away from that."
Mr Gardner's comments come after Steve Double - the former Conservative MP who lost the St Austell and Newquay seat to Labour - said he won't miss the "constant barrage of abuse" he has faced.
He said: "There is so much I will miss about being the MP for St Austell and Newquay, but there are things I certainly will not miss. Politics has become a very ugly place. The constant barrage of abuse and unfounded criticism takes its toll.
"I genuinely fear what the future will bring as I wonder why any decent, capable person would ever want to stand for election. So although I am gutted, there is also a sense of relief that I no longer have to put up with all the crap that comes with it."
