The Bill of Rights proposed by the Government is an excellent opportunity to reassert the paramountcy of freedom of expression as “the touchstone of all freedoms”, taking priority over all other rights. This briefing explains why such a reconfiguration is desirable, legitimate, and consistent with the European Convention on Human Rights. 

We are pleased that the Government has taken up several of the suggestions we made in our response to the Bill of Rights consultation and we welcome the emphasis on free speech. However, we question whether the Bill will be able to uphold the paramount importance of freedom of expression if it grants too many exceptions to the application of this principle, and if it grants effective immunity to legislation, whereby the courts will be prevented from scrutinising it to see if it is compatible with this pre-eminent right.