The FSU reached an important milestone in October, surpassing 20,000 members!
As you can see from the bar chart below, which our Director of Data, Tom Harris, has pulled together, we’ve surged from just under 14,000 members at the beginning of July, to 20,100 members at the end of October – a percentage increase of 43%. At this rate, it won’t be long before we’re bigger than Aslef and the National Union of Journalists.
It isn’t difficult to spot the causal factor driving our recent growth – membership has exploded since Labour won the General Election.
Sir Keir Starmer’s authoritarian response to the riots during his first few days in office, branding anyone concerned about the current levels of immigration as ‘far right’ and urging the police and Director of Public Prosecutions to come down hard on people posting supposedly ‘inflammatory’ things on social media, was a taste of things to come.
In just a few short months, Sir Keir’s government has unleashed some shocking attacks on free speech, including:
- encouraging the police to record more “non-crime hate incidents”;
- torpedoing the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which was designed to tackle cancel culture at universities;
- bringing forward an Employment Rights Bill that will make employers liable if staff are offended by third parties, such as customers or members of the public;
- proposing to combat the alleged ‘radicalisation’ of boys and young men at the hands of online influencers like Andrew Tate by categorising the potentially vague and capacious term “misogyny” as a form of extremism.
- and promising to bring in a “full, trans inclusive ban on conversion practices” that will punish parents, doctors, and teachers who dissent from gender ideology.
Then there are the risks coming down the track that include:
- criminalising “Islamophobia”;
- embedding critical race theory in workplaces via a Race Equality Act;
- strengthening the Online Safety Act to require social media platforms to censor perfectly lawful online speech that government ministers decided is ‘harmful’;
- and an attempt to force newspapers and magazines to bend the knee to a state-controlled press regulator.
Needless to say, the FSU will fight all of these attacks on free speech, starting with Bridget Phillipson’s decision to sabotage the Freedom of Speech Act. As reported by the Telegraph over the weekend, we’ve now been granted permission to appeal the move, with a judicial hearing set to take place in the High Court on January 23rd. You can donate to our crowdfunder to help with the costs of legally challenging Ms Phillipson’s decision here.
We’ve also threatened legal action against the Home Secretary if she goes ahead with her plan to force police officers to record more NCHIs.
And on the government’s plan for a conversion therapy ban, we’re currently working hard behind the scenes, urging Parliamentarians across both Houses of Parliament to consider the unintended consequences for freedom of speech if a bill of this nature is brought forward. You can voice your opposition to the proposal by writing to your local MP with the aid of our template email here.
If you care about defending free speech and you aren’t already a member of the FSU you can join by clicking the button below.
In an era where speaking one’s mind can lead to unforeseen consequences, it’s reassuring to know that with the FSU and its 20,000+ members behind you, you won’t navigate those challenges alone.
