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In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

Collateral Keir Starmer’s heavy hands could pose serious threat to democracy

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And Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, could also lose some level of independence. Ofcom will issue regulatory codes to manage the OSA’s regulation. These codes are secondary legislation and therefore received very little parliamentary scrutiny. Toby Young, of the Free Speech Union, warns it’s a safe bet Starmer will give the Secretary of State the power to revise these codes, giving the any Government huge influence on online regulation of speech for individual users.

Oscar Gill-Lewis, The Express, 11th October 2024.

Labour delay on free speech laws blasted as pro-Palestine protesters forced Suella Braverman’s speech at Cambridge University to be cancelled amid security threat

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Toby Young, head of the Free Speech Union, told the Mail: “This is precisely the kind of thing the Act was designed to prevent. It would have imposed a duty on universities to pay for any additional security costs if a student activists threatened to disrupt an event. We need to cancel cancel culture.”

Sabrina Miller, The Daily Mail, 11th October 2024.

Free speech row as Durham University debate society is banned from fresher’s fair by its student union following racism allegations

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In a letter to Durham University’s vice-chancellor, Professor Karen O’Brien, the Free Speech Union alleged Durham Union Society had been barred from the event because ‘it isn’t Left-wing enough.’ In a letter seen by MailOnline, the founder of the group, Toby Young claimed the university had a responsibility to protect free speech for all students, staff and visiting guests.

Shannon McGuigan, The Daily Mail, 3rd October 2024.

Will judges protect free speech for Christians?

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The widespread recognition of the importance of this case has been demonstrated by the number of high-profile organisations that have been given permission to intervene in the hearing. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has intervened, arguing that there is now “a phenomenon” of employers being pressured by third parties to punish employees for exercising free speech that has “become more common.” The Free Speech Union has also been given permission to intervene in the case, as have the Association of Christian Teachers, Sex Matters, and the Church of England Archbishops’ Council.

Tim Dieppe, The Critic, 3rd October 2024.

Free speech group ousted from pub over talk against gender ideology in schools

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Responding to the incident, The Free Speech Union (FSU) said it is “threatening legal action after one of our sister groups was kicked out of a Brighton pub for arguing that children should not be taught gender ideology as fact in schools”. FSU Founder and Director Toby Young commented that the pub landlord had no right to evict customers “just because he disapproves of their perfectly lawful beliefs, particularly if those beliefs are protected by the Equality Act”.

The Christian Institute, 28th September 2024.

Islamophobia definition in conflict with Equalities Act

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I have repeatedly warned of the dangers of the notorious APPG definition of Islamophobia since it was first proposed by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims back in 2018. Most recently, I wrote a report for the Free Speech Union entitled: Banning Islamophobia: Blasphemy Law By The backdoor. Professor Richard Dawkins kindly wrote the foreword to that report in which I warned that adopting that definition of Islamophobia would effectively prohibit valid criticism of Islam or Muhammad.

Tim Dieppe, Christian Concern, 26th September 2024.

Jeff Dudgeon: ​Enemies of free speech have been felled but the UK is still going in the wrong direction under Keir Starmer

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Jeff Dudgeon has been appointed to the advisory council of the Free Speech Union (FSU). This is an edited version of his address to a meeting the group held in Belfast on Friday evening ​This tour d’horizon will deal with what has been happening since I spoke at the Free Speech Union’s first Belfast meeting in January – the highs and the lows, and the achievements.

Jeff Dudgeon, Belfast News Letter, 22nd September 2024.

Free speech event in Belfast is warned about Stormont plans to create more protected groups, with restrictions on what you can say about them

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The FSU general secretary Toby Young told the gathering: “Now that Stormont is sitting again, we need to be ready to push back against any legislative assault on free speech, starting with next year’s Sentencing Bill, which will give the Justice Minister the power to create more ‘protected groups’, with restrictions on what you’re allowed to say about them, simply by laying a statutory instrument. That’s why the Free Speech Union has set up a Northern Ireland Advisory Council consisting of celebrated champions of free speech with a broad spectrum of views and backgrounds.”

Belfast News Letter, 21st September 2024.

Moment free speech group are ordered to leave Brighton pub ‘after talk saying children should not be taught trans ideology in schools’

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Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, claimed the pub did “not have a leg to stand on” in ordering the group to leave for expressing “perfectly lawful beliefs”.  “From a legal point of view, it’s no different to kicking someone out because they’re black or gay,” he told the Telegraph. “It’s unlawful discrimination, plain and simple.”

Tom Cotterill, The Daily Mail, 19th September 2024.

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