Campaigners urge PM to tackle ‘censorship crisis’

Big Brother Watch (BBW) has called on the Government to commission an independent review of laws affecting free speech.

According to an investigation by the campaign group, more than 62,000 people were arrested for offences under “vaguely defined” communications legislation between 2021-25, resulting in only 12,292 convictions.

In a letter to Andy Burnham, BBW warned that factors including “excessively broad” speech offences and “poorly drafted” online safety laws were leading to thousands of unnecessary arrests and fuelling a “free speech crisis”.

Reform

Through freedom of information requests sent to UK police forces, the BBW team found that arrests for speech offences “far exceed convictions” and raised “questions about the overuse of arrests for controversial speech”.

Furthermore, it argued, data analysis of police figures across the UK revealed “significant variance between forces, suggesting that in practice the right to freedom of expression is a ‘postcode lottery’ in the UK”.

The civil liberties group observed: “Unnecessary arrests for speech are detrimental to individuals’ rights and ultimately undermine trust in policing and the rule of law.”

BBW Director Silkie Carlo said: “We want the Government to restore Britain’s long and proud tradition of upholding freedom of speech. That must start with a close look at how our laws are working in practice and a willingness to reform.”

Online Safety Act

In her foreword to the report, Nadine Dorries addressed BBW concerns about the unintended consequences of the Online Safety Act on freedom of expression in the UK.

The former Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport expressed her full support “for an independent national review of all laws” that “fail to fully protect children online, limit freedom of speech and amount to the digital equivalent of a dog’s dinner”.

She said: “Protecting children online and protecting freedom of expression are not opposing goals pulling in different directions. Both are mutually compatible and achievable if legislation is drafted and passed with care and consideration.”

‘Deeply alarming’

Writing in the Daily Mail, Free Speech Union Director Lord Young of Acton backed the call for Government action. He described the report’s findings as “deeply alarming”.

He commented: “We’ve defended over 6,500 people since 2020, many of them arrested for social media posts. By far the biggest category in our case database is labelled ‘sex and gender’ – people who’ve got into trouble for criticising the excesses of the trans rights movement.”

He added: “People daren’t say what they think for fear they’ll get a knock on their door by a couple of plainclothes officers wearing rainbow lanyards.”