‘No free trade without free speech’, UK Govt told

The United States’ foreign office has warned the Prime Minister that it is “concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom”.

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which is a branch of the US State Department, made the comment on X. In light of the US Government’s global tariffs which come into effect this week, an American source told The Daily Telegraph there should be “no free trade without free speech”.

There have been several cases in recent months involving those who were hounded out of their jobs, harassed, or wrongly investigated by the police for expressing their views on issues such as trans ideology.

‘Frightening’

Linzi Smith, who recently received an apology from Northumbria Police, was subjected to a two-hour police interview during a hate crime investigation over her social media posts on the reality of biological sex.

Despite her vindication, she admitted: “I can’t help but feel let down and quite frightened that there were so many failings from so many police officers that led to me even finding myself in that situation in the first place”.

Former Government scientist Peter Wilkins, who was treated like an “al-Qaeda” supporter for his gender-critical views, was forced to resign from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in 2022.

Although colleagues had claimed that those who hold gender-critical views lead “sad pathetic little lives”, an Employment Tribunal concluded that senior officials ignored the harassment and told Wilkins it was “not OK” to express his own views in the workplace.

‘Vital principle’

The Christian Institute is currently providing support to a retired pastor who is being prosecuted for holding an open-air Sunday service within one of the Province’s eight abortion censorship zones.

Clive Johnston, a former President of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, was cautioned by police on 7 July last year after preaching on John 3:16 in the vicinity of Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital.

Although Mr Johnston did not mention abortion and was separated from the hospital by a dual carriageway, he was later charged with seeking to ‘influence’ people accessing abortion services within the censorship zone around the hospital. If convicted, the 76-year-old grandfather of seven faces a criminal record and could be fined thousands of pounds.

The Institute’s Deputy Director Simon Calvert explained: “The Christian Institute is backing this case because there is a vital principle at stake. If the Gospel can be banned in this public place, where else can it be banned? The authorities do not seem to have thought through the human rights implications of their decision to prosecute.”