Taking a stand against injustice and abuse should be at the heart of our politics – Watson and Cooper statement

This is the joint statement issued by Tom Watson, deputy leader, and Yvette Cooper, chair of the Reclaim the Internet campaign, after Labour’s ruling NEC agreed to tackle abuse through a code of conduct for all members.

“This new pledge will mean every Labour member is making an active commitment to the values of decency and respect for others, both on and offline.

“We have a problem, we need to be clearer about our values and about the standards acceptable in the Labour Party – and this is an important step in doing so.

“When you’re signing up to the aims and values of the Labour Party, being against abuse and behaving in a comradely manner is implicit. But with what we have seen in recent months, we think this commitment should now be explicit.

“We have a responsibility in the Labour Party to lead the way because we have always stood for something better. At a time when far right abuse is increasing, and online hatred, racism and misogyny is silencing people from speaking out, the Labour movement needs to stand up for people against intimidation and bullying just as we have always done throughout our history. But we can’t do that if some in our own party get sucked in as well.

“We need to urgently restore decency to political debate – the lack of it threatens our democracy. Our members join the Labour Party to stand up against injustice and abuse – this pledge makes clear that this is at the heart of all of our politics and our party debates too.”