UK government accused of restricting free speech: ‘Think before you publish’

LONDON – Britain is facing a free speech crisis as the new left-wing government, overzealous police and courts clamp down on free speech.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, leader of the ruling Labour Party, and his government, in office for just two months, have been accused of rolling back free speech protections on security grounds and failing to stamp out selective enforcement of laws.

“Every British person has a fundamental right to freedom of expression, but over the last few years we’ve seen a growing trend,” Lois McLatchie Miller, head of legal communications for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) UK, told Fox News Digital. “It’s now widely recognised that some groups, based on their beliefs, seem to have their freedom of expression restricted much more easily than others with different views.”

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Police officers confront protesters during an anti-immigration demonstration outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, England, Sunday August 4, 2024. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP) (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)

The widespread riots on the streets of England last month and the heavy-handed approach taken in response to social unrest have reignited the debate over freedom of expression.

The UK has faced a harsh crackdown on online speech for years. In 2019, former police officer Harry Miller was investigated for social media posts deemed transphobic because he questioned whether transgender women were real women. Miller’s posts were recorded by police as a “non-criminal hate incident,” prompting him to challenge the characterization in court. In 2020, the UK court ruled in Miller’s favor but did not change the guidelines that allow police to prosecute people for comments made online.

In a speech to Parliament, Reform Party leader Nigel Farage complained about the double standard in law enforcement. He wrote on X: “Establishment MPs can heckle me all they want, but the British people are angry because we live in a two-tier system of policing and justice.”

Last month, the government directly reiterated these laws and warned its citizens to be careful about posting content deemed offensive and threatening imprisonment. The Crown Prosecution Service posted a warning on the social media platform X, which was amplified by official government social media accounts, warning citizens: “Think before you post!”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session at the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

“Content that incites violence or hatred is not only harmful, it can be illegal,” the agency wrote. “The CPS takes online violence seriously and will prosecute where the legal criteria are met. Remind your loved ones to share responsibly or face consequences.” The message added: “The UK government is cracking down on people who share posts on social media about the UK riots that it deems ‘likely to spark racial hatred’.”

The government has begun work simultaneously on measures to force social media to remove “fake news” and legal content deemed harmful, in order to avoid fuelling social unrest. The new measures would expand the scope of the UK’s Online Safety Act by targeting and making social media liable for “legal but harmful” content.

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Anti-Israel protesters gather in central London for a march towards the Israeli embassy in London, UK, September 7, 2024. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has urged the Stammer government to swiftly implement changes to the Online Safety Act, saying it is currently “not fit for purpose”.

“I think the government has very quickly realised that the online safety law needs to be changed,” Khan said in an interview with the Guardian. “I think the government should very quickly assess whether this law is fit for purpose. I think it is not.”

But concerns about free speech in the UK extend beyond the internet, with double standards applied to differing viewpoints and political protest.

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Last weekend, two pro-Israel counter-protesters, Mark Birbeck and Niyak Ghorbani, carrying a placard reading “Hamas is a terrorist,” were arrested at the pro-Hamas march in London on suspicion of disturbing the peace. The presence of the counter-protesters reportedly led to the march being disrupted, and they were arrested following a scuffle with police officers.

Ghorbani is a prominent Iranian anti-Hamas dissident who was asked by London’s Metropolitan Police to ban him from future anti-Israel protests as part of his bail conditions after he was arrested for opposing the demonstrations. A court reprimanded the police and ruled in April that the bail conditions were neither proportionate nor necessary. The nickname “two-tier Kier” is the response given by some on social media to the new prime minister’s policies.

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Dia Moodley, a Christian preacher in the UK, has fought a legal battle against police after authorities told him he could no longer comment on other religions while giving street sermons. (Dia Moodley)

“On the one hand, we see groups like environmental activists, like Stop Oil activists, or pro-Palestinians, and even in some cases pro-Hamas, who are given a lot of freedom of expression, and sometimes they use very violent language,” Lois said. “Yet when we look at other types of protests, like Christians going out to pray near places of worship, they often face much stricter restrictions.”

For example, Dia Moodley, a Christian pastor who occasionally engages in street evangelism, was forced to sue local police after they banned him from “commenting on any other religion or comparing them to Christianity” and from “commenting on the beliefs of atheists or those who believe in evolution.” Moodley won in court earlier this year, and police admitted that the restrictions on his freedom of speech were “disproportionate.”

“Two-speed Kier” is how some on social media reacted to the new Prime Minister’s policy.

Adam Smith-Connor, a Christian veteran, is due in court next week after being fined and charged with criminal offences for praying silently near an abortion clinic. Local authorities said Smith-Connor’s silent prayer violated the so-called “buffer zone”, a designated area where people are allowed to express their approval or disapproval of abortion.

OCTOBER 16: Hundreds of people take part in a protest organized by the Jewish National Assembly, the Campaign Against Antisemitism and British Lawyers for Israel at BBC Broadcasting House on October 16, 2023, in London, England. The Jewish National Assembly is protesting the BBC’s refusal to label Hamas as a terrorist organization and comes after the militant group’s recent attacks on Israel. Hamas was designated a terrorist organization by the UK in March 2021. (Photo by Guy Smallman/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

“Silent prayer is not and can never be a crime. Yet the prosecution of Adam Smith-Connor – who served in Afghanistan defending the fundamental freedoms of all people – shows an authoritarian move towards ‘thought policing’ in the UK. This is not 1984, it is 2024. And yet the state’s determination to severely repress even silent Christian beliefs – while protecting the free expression of others with different views – is clearly on display,” said McLatchie Miller.

Yet the backlash against the government’s stance on freedom of expression is growing, particularly the decision to suspend implementation and potentially scrap the Higher Education Freedom of Expression Act altogether over security concerns.

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More than 600 academics and intellectuals, including seven Nobel laureates, have signed a letter urging the government to reconsider its decision to scrap the law, the Times of London reported. The law was a flagship measure adopted by the previous Conservative government to protect freedom of expression for students and academics on campus.

“The decision to suspend (the law) appears to reflect the view, widely held among opponents, that there is no ‘free speech problem’ in British universities. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hundreds of academics and students have been hounded, censored, silenced or even dismissed over the last 20 years for expressing legal views,” the letter reads.