Stella Creasy argues that speech must be controlled in order to be free

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer

28 September 2026

Guido Fawkes has reported that, during a fringe event at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Stella Creasy MP offered a perfect example of what we are up against in the fight for free speech.

Jonathan Hinder, the MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, who was elected in 2024 and chairs the Blue Labour group in the House of Commons, argued against the growing controls on speech in Britain today. Stella Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow, then fought back, saying that speech is unacceptable when it "stops somebody else's view from being heard".

"It's recognising the impact and the context in which people have conversation and debate… [recognising] the value of free speech but understand, if we are progressives and socialists, tackling the barriers that stop people from being allowed to be heard at all."

She added that "those barriers don't disappear" when speech is fully unregulated.

Well, when you leap straight to speaking about the regulation of speech, it is never going to end well, and it will lead to the Free Speech Union team putting their heads in their hands.

The MP went on to say that she supported further harassment legislation, stating:

"If we want to stand up for free speech, we have to stand up for the right of people to say stop — actually, you're not going to change my mind, this conversation isn't one I want to continue being part of, and the way you go on behaving means that I don't feel that I can speak at all."

The Employment Rights Act 2025 contains another measure that seeks to tackle so-called "harassment": what we have dubbed the "Banter Ban", which comes into force on 30 October. It will extend employers' liability to harassment by third parties, including non-sexual harassment, which translates to the words, jokes, and private conversations of customers in pubs across the country. Expect a banter bouncer in every beer garden and a code of conduct on every wall — and do not forget a copy of your equality, diversity, and inclusion training certificate before ordering a pint at your local. To avoid expensive legal fees, employers already cash-strapped by arduous bureaucracy and a poor economic landscape will have to take extreme measures to protect their pockets.

The Free Speech Union cannot believe that it has to point out this basic fact to a sitting MP: controlled speech is not free speech — at all.

Just as Stella Creasy cannot tell the difference between a parrot and a parakeet, she appears to have no idea what she is talking about when it comes to free speech.

Read more from Guido Fawkes.