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A peer has made a bid to block a so-called “banter ban” in Labour’s workers’ rights overhaul. Lord Young, the founder of the Free Speech Union, has tabled a series of amendments to the draft legislation – championed by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner – ahead of its return to Parliament later this month
Katie Harris, Express, 15th April 2025.
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Lord Young of Acton, the founder of the Free Speech Union, has tabled a number of amendments that would stop pub and university bosses having to ensure their staff were not subject to harassment by overhearing opinions they did not agree with.
Geraldine Scott, The Times, 15th April 2025.
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Lord Young, the founder of the Free Speech Union, condemned the booklet. He told the Sunday Telegraph: “If I was a gender-confused adolescent in care, I’d want to speak to someone who could give me some sensible, practical advice, the kind of advice a loving parent would give. Instead, the Scottish care watchdog is telling carers to affirm the delusions of the children it’s supposed to be looking after – delusions that could lead them to make life-changing decisions that they’ll come to regret.”
Ben Borland, Scottish Daily Express, 14th April 2025.
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Lord Young, the General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, told MailOnline: “This is unacceptable. What if the schoolchildren are debating whether sex is an immutable biological characteristic or a social construct that’s merely ‘assigned at birth’? By forcing the participants to declare their pronouns, which is a tacit acknowledgement that someone can become a member of the opposite sex, the organisers of the competition are siding with those who believe that sex is a social construct.”
Noor Qurashi, Daily Mail, 9th April 2025.
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Connolly is also back in the news following an eye-opening exposé by Allison Pearson in the Telegraph, detailing Connolly’s swift and punitive treatment by the authorities as racist riots ripped across England. Her case will be in the Court of Appeal next month, with the support of the estimable Free Speech Union.
Tom Slater, Spiked, 7th April 2025.
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As pressure mounted to weaken the bill, the Free Speech Union—a mass-membership UK organisation that had been campaigning for it—organised a letter in November 2022, signed by over fifty prominent UK academics, urging the government to stand firm. But on 7 December 2022, following intensive lobbying from university vice-chancellors and their representatives, the House of Lords voted to remove the statutory-tort clause completely.
Abhishek Saha, Quillette, 6th April 2025.
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Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, said: “You’d think someone with such a weak heart that a loud noise can trigger cardiac arrest would avoid Scotland Yard altogether.”
Claudia Joseph, Daily Mail, 6th April 2025.
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The head of the Free Speech Union has raised concerns about the government’s proposed definition of Islamophobia. Conservative peer Lord Young of Acton warned of a “two-tier justice risk” if the planned definition were incorporated into advice given to police or authorities.
Joe Rossiter, Express, 4th April 2025.
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Toby Young, the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, said his organisation was helping half a dozen people who were being prosecuted for section 127 or section 1 offences.
Charlie Parker, Yennah Smart, George Willoughby, The Times, 4th April 2025.
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The Free Speech Union’s Director, Lord Young of Acton, said in his maiden speech that people were right to be concerned that pubs “might have to employ ‘banter bouncers’” as one of the “reasonable steps to protect employees”.
The Christian Institute, 3rd April 2025.
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