Last week, the new Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson issued a written statement to the House of Commons saying she intended to ‘pause’ the Freedom of Speech Act.
It was fitting that the Labour Government would declare war on free speech in a written statement, posted quietly to the House of Commons website on a Friday – a good day for bad news, as any journalist will tell you – and unaccompanied by any opportunity for parliamentary debate or scrutiny.
The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 was the one tangible thing the Conservatives did to defend free speech in the past 14 years. Indeed, it was thanks to the lobbying efforts of the Free Speech Union that this legislation found itself on to the statute books. It would have imposed a new legal duty on English universities to uphold and promote freedom of speech on campus, and it created a couple of enforcement mechanisms, such as a new statutory tort, to make sure universities didn’t ignore that duty.
About a fifth of all 2,400+ cases we’ve fought in the last four years have involved university students or academics and we think that in almost every case they would have been in a stronger position after this Act had passed. For instance, we think it would have been harder for trans rights activists to no-platform Selina Todd, the Oxford Professor of Modern History, if this Act has been on the statute books.
Now, because Rishi Sunak called an election before the Act had been implemented, this Government has seized its chance to derail it.
At the Free Speech Union, we’ve been taking advice on a range of legal options, and without wishing to tip our hand, it’s safe to say Bridget Phillipson will be hearing from us shortly. The bottom line is we intend to fight this wanton act of vandalism with all we’ve got, but to do so we need to raise as much money as possible.
So, if you’re reading this as one of our supporters, now is the time to step off the sidelines, join the fight and become a dues-paying FSU member (to do that, click here). Members and supporters alike can also donate to our Legal Fighting Fund (click here).
Phillipson’s decision to sabotage this legislation gives the lie to the Government’s claim that it’s committed to human rights. Freedom of speech is the most important human right of all, because without it we cannot raise the alarm about any of our other rights being eroded.
We fear we may have witnessed the opening salvo in what will prove to be an unrelenting attack on this bedrock value over the next five years.
The risks we’re already worried about include a Westminster version of the Scottish Hate Crime Act, the criminalisation of ‘Islamophobia’, a ‘conversion practices’ ban that will punish parents, doctors and teachers who dissent from gender ideology, a Race Equality Act that will embed Critical Race Theory across workplaces, 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. That’s why it’s so important that you should become a member of the Free Speech Union and donate to our Legal Fighting Fund.
If we don’t band together, they’ll pick us off one by one.
