Communications Policy
We stand for Conservative values and believe it’s right that we role model the highest standard of conduct online and off line.
Conservative Party Code of Conduct; Whose purpose is to support equality of opportunity, diversity and inclusion, and the absence of any and all inappropriate behaviour, in all aspects of the Party’s activities.
- Integrity
- Objectivity
- Accountability
- Openness
- Honesty
- Leadership
St Albans Conservative Party Communications Policy
(Covering online and offline communications, newsletters and social media)
Principles
- We treat all people with dignity and respect. This applies to all our dealings with people, offline and online. Everyone should feel able to take part in discussion about our party, our opposition, our country and our world. Trolling, or otherwise disrupting the ability of others to debate is not acceptable, nor is consistently mentioning or making contact with others when this is not welcome. The use of sexualised language or imagery, and unwelcome sexual attention or advances are not acceptable, nor is the publishing of others’ private information without their explicit permission.
- We want to maximise debate, including critical discussion, as long as it does not result in the exclusion of others. Abusing someone online is just as serious as doing so face to face. We stand against all forms of abuse and will take action against those who commit it.
- Harassment, intimidation, extreme language and bullying are never acceptable, nor is any form of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. We all have a responsibility to challenge abusive or inappropriate behaviour. We should attempt to educate and discourage abusers rather than responding in kind.
- We believe in open debate. It is perfectly possible to have vehement disagreements without descending into personal abuse, shaming people or exhibiting bullying behaviour.
- Forcefully made points and criticisms of the political views of others are totally legitimate, personal attacks or local or national figures are not. Derogatory descriptions of the positions of others should be avoided.
- Anonymous accounts or otherwise hiding one’s identity in order to criticise and abuse without any accountability is not acceptable.
- Internally we are one party and one association and while there are legitimately differing points of view, we all believe in the same core conservative values and aims. We should therefore conduct our communications with each other in a respectful and collegiate way.
Communication Policy Actions
- We are direct, confident and proud in what we have to say. We publish verified truth and will challenge factual inaccuracies
- We make legitimate criticisms of other parties based on policy and political actions, never making personal attacks.
- We want debate and discussion to flourish on our social media and will encourage feedback where appropriate.
- In online channels, we will state our case and engage in reasoned and respectful dialogue but not get involved in protracted and fruitless online “slanging matches”.
- We will not block critical points of view on any social media
- We use accessible language and avoid jargon that could exclude or alienate.
- We will block comments from unattributed sources. People or organisations that are not prepared to identify themselves are not engaging in legitimate debate and will therefore be blocked.
- We will not tolerate comments that are inappropriate (e.g. discriminatory, abusive, extreme) and will take down and block any content of this nature. This applies to internal channels as well as external ones.