🚨A majority of Britons believe that the Government only protects the free speech it agrees with.
Human rights organisation Liberty commissioned new polling by More in Common, which found that 54 per cent of Britons surveyed believe the Government only protects free speech with which it agrees.
This striking polling comes a week after the Prime Minister announced the creation of a ‘National Centre for Information Defence’ at the UN to tackle Russian information warfare. However, it will inevitably become Labour’s Ministry of Truth, clamping down on the ability of UK citizens to criticise the Government.
Liberty described the findings as a “very clear warning sign” to Prime Minister Andy Burnham and said they were fuelling “accusations of two-tier enforcement” of free speech laws.
Since Labour came to power in July 2024, the free speech crisis has become considerably worse. Another recent poll showed that a majority of Britons believe their free speech rights are less secure than they were before Labour came to power. Meanwhile, FSU membership has grown from 14,000 in July 2024 to 48,500 today.
Major concerns listed in the survey include restrictions on protest, arrests for online communications offences, the police visiting a prominent journalist, the proscription of Palestine Action and the Labour Government’s failure to robustly defend free speech since the 2024 General Election.
Luke Tryl, Director of More in Common, said:
“While free speech is often treated as a battleground between the political left and right, this research suggests that concern about the ability to speak freely is something that crosses party lines.
“Britons prize their ability to criticise the Government, express their views without legal or professional consequences, and debate issues openly.”
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