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Writing to Yvette Cooper, the Free Speech Union (FSU) warned her not to reverse the previous Government’s policy protecting freedom of expression, which told the police to only record incidents if they present “a real risk” of either “significant harm” or a “future criminal offence”.
The Christian Institute, 5th September 2024.
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Toby Young, the director of the Free Speech Union, said 20 per cent of the 2,700 cases it has handled since being founded in 2020 have related to universities. “Professor Goldman’s comments don’t come as a surprise,” Mr Young said.
Tim Sigsworth, The Telegraph, 4th September 2024.
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The data, disclosed in response to freedom of information requests by the Free Speech Union, revealed significant increases in the number of incidents recorded by some police forces, including a 140 per cent rise by Staffordshire police, a 65 per cent increase by North Yorkshire police, a 63 per cent rise by Gwent police and a 35 per cent increase by Suffolk constabulary.
Matt Dathan, The Times, 3rd September 2024.
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In March, ahead of the General Election, the Free Speech Union published an essay by Christian Concern’s Head of Public Policy, Tim Dieppe, with a foreword by the atheist biologist Richard Dawkins, arguing that any attempt to define Islamophobia would have “a chilling effect on free speech”.
Julian Mann, Christian Today, 3rd September 2024.
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The data, provided to the Free Speech Union, revealed some forces recorded big increases including Staffordshire (140 per cent), North Yorkshire (65 per cent), Gwent (63 per cent), Suffolk (35 per cent) and North Wales (33 per cent). Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, said the figures suggested the “message had not got through” to some forces that the recording of such incidents represented an interference with people’s free speech.
Charles Hymas, The Telegraph, 2nd September 2024.
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Toby Young, the director of the Free Speech Union, has written to the Home Sec warning he will launch legal action if she pushes ahead with her plan. Mr Young said: “The idea that forcing the police to spend more time investigating ‘non-crime’ is going to reduce actual crime is bonkers. Burglars and car thieves will have a free hand, knowing the police are too busy reading our tweets to police our streets.”
Kate Ferguson, The Sun, 31st August 2024.
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Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union (FSU), a membership organisation that campaigns for free speech, told the JC that despite the instruction by Suella Braverman to only record non-crime hate incidents sparingly, police had not slowed down. He claimed that, according to data from the FSU, since 2014 around a quarter of a million non-crime hate incidents had been recorded – more than 65 a day.
Lorin Bell-Cross, The Jewish Chronicle, 30th August 2024.
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We mustn’t let it get away with this and if the Home Secretary really does encourage the police to start acting unlawfully again, the Free Speech Union will mount another legal challenge.
Freddie Attenborough, The Critic, 30th August 2024.
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However, the plans have drawn pushback, including from the Free Speech Union (FSU), which noted that despite hundreds of thousands of non-crime hate incidents being recorded by police, they have not provided evidence that the practice prevented any actual crimes.
Kurt Zindulka, Breitbart, 29th August 2024.
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“Keir Starmer has been encouraging the authorities to prosecute people for supposedly whipping up violence on social media.”
On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson speak to Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, about the prosecutions related to social media posts in the wake of recent riots.
Allison Pearson, Liam Halligan, Isabelle Bougeard, The Telegraph, 29th August 2024.
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