Freedom of speech is in decline in the UK, warns MP

A veteran Labour MP has said he is “shocked and embarrassed” about the state of freedom of speech in the UK.

In an article for The Daily Telegraph, Graham Stringer referenced a global index of the right of expression produced by the Index on Censorship where the UK is ranked in the third tier, below most other western countries.

The MP for Blackley and Middleton South detailed multiple freedom of speech violations and remarked that the UK needs to do better.

Decline

Mr Stringer commented on the police’s “enthusiasm for non-crime hate incidents” including interviewing people for “tweeting feminist songs”.

He also said there have been “a number of appalling incidents representing a decline in academic freedom”.

He particularly highlighted speakers being cancelled at universities, including Professor Kathleen Stock who was “hounded out of her job” because of her gender-critical beliefs.

Authoritarian

Stringer explained how limitations on speech have also impacted politicians.

Referencing Labour Peer Lord Austin being ‘interrogated’, because he had called proscribed terror group Hamas “Islamists” , he stated: “Free speech and the freedom of the press are fundamental to our democracy, yet parliamentarians have had inappropriate and intimidating interviews by the police.”

Criticising his own party the MP added: “This government’s record by not implementing the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act is not as good as it should be and some people on the Left claim an unjustified moral superiority over people from a different part of the political spectrum.

“This sadly leads to a soft kind of authoritarianism. ”

Non-crime hate incidents

Police forces in Britain recorded 13,200 ‘non-crime hate incidents’ (NCHIs) in the year to June 2024, according to freedom of information responses.

Warwickshire Police logged an NCHI against a ‘suspect’ after refusing to shake someone’s hand was “perceived to be hate related due to gender identity”.

In August, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper pledged to make it even easier to record such ‘hate incidents’, which are not criminal offences.