Telegraph – Free speech is under siege from those on the Left and Right

There is a free speech crisis in Britain, and, at long last, people on both the Right and Left can see it. A poll this week found that the majority of the British public during Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership lost confidence in the government to defend their right to express themselves freely.

It is an astounding measure of just how tangible censorship has become to the general public. These days, you’re far more likely to hear someone say “you can’t say that!” than “it’s a free country”.

Police now arrest around 22 people a day for speech offences – but only an estimated 16 people for fraud. Two absurd expression-related examples of arrests, which were carried out on the same day (May 16) this year, starkly highlight Britain’s creeping authoritarianism.

At a Unite the Kingdom protest organised by the far-Right activist Tommy Robinson, a young man and woman were held by police after holding placards reading “F— Islam, Christ is King”.

The young man was even handcuffed – why? – and marched to a police van by at least five police officers. Both were taken to sit in cells overnight. In other words: they were deprived of liberty for a point of view. More than three months later, the activists are still being investigated for breaches of section 5 of the Public Order Act, which criminalises “abusive” words.

No doubt the signs will offend some, but that doesn’t, and shouldn’t, make holding them against the law. Britons have long fought for the right to criticise religions – and thankfully, we no longer have blasphemy laws. However, our speech laws are so vague and ripe for abuse that the sort of policing that leads to such arrests has become completely commonplace.

Meanwhile, at a pro-Palestine protest elsewhere in London, a 73-year-old man wearing a Grim Reaper costume – part of a commentary on the thousands of deaths in the Gaza conflict – was handcuffed and marched off to be detained overnight.

The reason given for the pensioner’s detainment was the temporary ban on face coverings. But he had taken off his mask to show his face to police.

The law should be there to target criminals using disguises to commit offences, not to criminalise innocent people wearing eccentric costumes.

The pensioner, a retired ambulance worker, will be hauled up in court next week, following a police decision to charge him. If convicted, he could face a prison sentence. In what world is this in the public interest?

In another recent chilling case, a 16-year-old holding a scrap of cardboard with the scribbled words “Plasticine Action Group” was arrested under the Terrorism Act, no less. Arresting a child for a not-particularly-edgy joke shows the absurd extremes that police lacking in common sense can go to when emboldened by elastic, authoritarian laws.

The misuse of the Terrorism Act is particularly sinister. The arrest alone means that the child now has a permanent police record – one that potential employers may see via enhanced DBS checks. Travelling to other countries, such as the US, may now be a challenge too.

How have we got to a place where so many British citizens can be physically restrained and held in cells for uncomfortable or daft things they think and say?

Part of the reason is that, whilst Britons’ awareness of this free speech crisis is growing, too many view it through a tribal lens. Factions on both the Right and Left have become increasingly comfortable with excessive power, so long as it’s being used against the other side.

The Left – which once defended the rights of its enemies – has become increasingly comfortable with censorship when the targets are people it regards as racist, transphobic, sexist or otherwise beyond the pale.

But the Right has displayed some of the same temptations too when the targets are those on the “other side”, such as far-Left radicals or Islamists.

The state’s abuse of counter-terror law, for example, could surely not have happened without the Right’s indifference to this type of censorship.

And would people who criticised the “F— Islam, Christ is King” arrests have shared the same outrage if someone was holding a “F— Christianity, Muhammad is King” sign? We should be. It’s not about defending a point of view, it’s about defending our country’s democratic traditions.

In a democracy, speech that is offensive, controversial or unpopular deserves as much protection as any other lawful articulation of words.

That’s why Big Brother Watch is giving legal support to both the Grim Reaper protester and the anti-Islam placard-holders, who are also being supported by the Free Speech Union.

We need to be much more unanimous in our defence of everyone to freely express themselves. If you’re not defending the free speech rights of those you disagree with, you’re not defending it at all.

Silkie Carlo – Big Brother Watch director