German citizens are being fined and threatened with prison for memes, nicknames and mockery of politicians, as speech laws meant to guard democracy are turned against ordinary political comment.
As Andy Burnham replaces Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street, the Free Speech Union looks at who is in, out, demoted and promoted in the new Cabinet — and examines each minister's record on free speech.
Lord Young of Acton and David Rose joined MPs, peers and policing experts at a Parliamentary roundtable on policing and free speech following the murder of Henry Nowak, warning that anti-racism initiatives have tipped into discrimination against white working-class men.
Bridget Phillipson has spent over £500,000 of taxpayers' money trying to water down university free speech laws, after being forced into a U-turn by an FSU legal threat. A complaints scheme for academics launches in September — but students remain excluded.
The Government has delayed publication of Lord Macdonald's landmark review of public order and hate crime law until the Autumn, blaming the transition from Keir Starmer to Andy Burnham — leaving police forces and protestors in continued confusion.
Reform UK councillor Kelvin Wright faced an anonymous code of conduct complaint over Facebook comments on the Progress Pride flag and fire service policy. The FSU intervened, and the council took the matter no further.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have been accused of censorship after they threatened to cancel a planned fringe event on the proposed conversion therapy ban at this year's General Synod meeting.
A senior US Congressman and close ally of President Trump has written to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, warning that her department's plans to promote "trustworthy" broadcasters while demoting other news sources pose a major threat to online speech and harm American companies.
The Prime Minister-in-waiting, Andy Burnham, is reportedly set to drop Starmer and Lammy's plan to curb the right to trial by jury, removing it from the Courts and Tribunals Bill.
The Metropolitan Police have offered Graham Linehan an unreserved apology and £25,000 compensation after arresting him at Heathrow over three gender-critical posts on X. The Free Speech Union is proud to have supported Graham throughout.
Lucy Powell wants election-time speech duties imposed on platforms like Facebook and X — and praised Lisa Nandy's exit from X over "misinformation," even as Nandy pushes a green paper to police "trustworthy" news. Neither raised a word when Starmer's government tried to cancel local elections or curb jury trial. As Starmer heads for the door, the Burnham government looks set to be even more censorious.
Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has quit X, accusing the platform of favouring abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate and declaring it unhealthy for democracy. But when has Nandy ever cared about free speech?
