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Labour Will Be a Disaster for Freedom of Speech

by Will Jones
5 July 2024 11:00 AM

Sick of woke censorship? You ain’t seen nothing yet. With Labour coming to power in a landslide, the Free Speech Union is bracing for an all-out assault on our precious freedom of expression. Daily Sceptic Editor-in-Chief – and General Secretary of the FSU – Toby Young has written about what to look out for in Spiked. Here’s an excerpt.

I’m worried that a Labour Government will bring in new laws that will criminalise vast swathes of speech that are currently legal. [At the FSU] we anticipate fighting a number of test cases in which we challenge whether those laws are compatible with our existing laws, including the Human Rights Act.

For instance, Labour has promised in its manifesto to bring in a ‘trans inclusive’ conversion-therapy ban, something the FSU has long been campaigning against. Conversion therapy, commonly understood as a coercive attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation, is already against the law in Britain. So what does Labour want to ban, exactly? The answer is any deviation from the ‘affirmative care’ approach to gender-confused adolescents. The FSU is concerned that if Labour passes this law, parents who challenge their children’s belief that they’re “born in the wrong body” or try to talk their children out of having dangerous medical procedures could end up in jail. That’s a law we think may be incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to a family and private life, and Article 10, which protects the right to free speech.

Another source of concern is Labour’s proposed Race Equality Act. Announced earlier this year, the act will further institutionalise critical race theory and attempt to foist diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives on to the workplace. As we’ve seen at the FSU, if you challenge the ideology underpinning DEI initiatives – by pointing out that the U.K. is one of the least racist countries in the world, for instance – you can find yourself out of a job. We anticipate being involved in lots of employment tribunal cases involving people who’ve been fired for challenging woke diversity training. …

I think there’s a real risk Labour will attack the freedom of the press, forcing newspapers and magazines to sign up to a state-controlled press regulator. Indeed, Starmer’s frontbenchers have consistently vowed to reinstate Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 – abolished by the Tories in the Media Act 2024 – which would effectively push the press to sign up to a regulator. Publishers that don’t will have to pay the legal fees of anyone who sues them, even if the publisher wins. If Labour does do this, we will defend any newspaper or magazine that refuses to kowtow to de facto state regulation by appealing to Article 10 of the European Convention, among other things.

Toby adds that Labour might copy Scotland’s notorious Hate Crime and Public Order Act and criminalise “Islamophobia” i.e., criticism of Islam.

Worth reading in full.

Tags: CensorshipFree SpeechFree speech crisisFree Speech UnionKeir StarmerLabour PartyWoke AuthoritarianismWoke Gobbledegook

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30 Comments
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DickieA
DickieA
10 months ago

Undoubtedly we are heading for a shitshow under the labour government; however, any thoughts that the way ahead for right of centre voters is for a merger of The Conservatives and Reform is mistaken.
I work in Liverpool and live in Wales – both Labour strongholds. Most people I speak to will never vote for “The Tories” – there is a deep-set hatred of The Conservative Party which will never change for most of them. The only chance is for a new right of centre party with no “Tory Toff” baggage – whether that be Reform or a new movement that emerges over the coming months / years. There is plenty of latent support amongst labour voters for a right wing party that advocates lower taxation, no Net Zero (and woke) nonsense and lower immigration. The Conservative Party will be hated and never forgiven by too many people to be that party.

Last edited 10 months ago by DickieA
116
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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
10 months ago
Reply to  DickieA

That’s a good analysis.

However it also seems like there are 6million Tory voters who don’t like conservative policies or think that Farage is too vulgar or something – tribal as the Labour voters you describe but in a different way.

45
0
DickieA
DickieA
10 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

That’s true. With luck, if the right of centre party with the most momentum is Reform, enough of them will hold their nose and vote for them. After all, many must have “held their nose” to have voted Conservative in this election.

32
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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
10 months ago
Reply to  DickieA

Still baffled as to why anyone would have voted Tory this time around

68
-3
DickieA
DickieA
10 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Very true.

19
-1
Monro
Monro
10 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Faute de mieux

8
-1
Ron Smith
Ron Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

A lot of this Woke nonsense has changed that, at least a bit. Like a mate from the Valleys who was for Labour in 2020, but would not vote for any of the main parties now. There will be further waking up .

25
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
10 months ago
Reply to  Ron Smith

I hope you’re right but I am not holding my breath.

11
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Mogwai
Mogwai
10 months ago
Reply to  DickieA

There’ll be many things to keep an eye on coming down the pipeline, and none of them for the betterment of the populace, immigration is just one obvious topic. If you’ve 5mins I’m pretty confident this guy speaks for the vast majority of us. He’s the same age as me and I know exactly where he’s coming from, though I lived in the N. East, but cities back then just didn’t look anything like they do now. And when I visit the UK a couple times/year I see the changes more and more every time. It’s happening gradually but the UK is becoming unrecognisable;

”If there is one video you watch today, this is it. Set against Britain’s breathtaking countryside, legendary @talktv
caller Danny from Epsom laments mass immigration to Britain.

“In less than one man’s lifetime, the UK has completely changed.”

https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1788832937732870656

30
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For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
10 months ago
Reply to  DickieA

The trouble is that those who hate the Tories for being toffs also hate Reform for being racists and mysogenists. Neither are true characterisations but they are built into the belief system of the left.
My instinct is to hunker down and try and let it blow over me. Sooner or later their illiberal plans will blow up in their faces as they squabble internally and fail because the Tories haven’t left a magic money tree like they did for Blair.
My MP survived and she is to the right of the Tories, despite not having my vote. So maybe I will give her some active support in the absence of a Reform candidate.

31
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DickieA
DickieA
10 months ago
Reply to  For a fist full of roubles

I’m not so sure. I think many lower income working people do see immigration as a big issue – as they’re more likely to be affected by it. The “New Labour” metropolitan middle-class champagne-socialist labour supporters will no doubt be banging the racist drum as a virtue signalling pavlovian response to any attempt at immigration control.

Last edited 10 months ago by DickieA
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varmint
varmint
10 months ago
Reply to  DickieA

Yes except 5 years ago they had an 80 seat majority. There is one thing you are forgetting in your equation and that is “TIME”. ——-As time ticks by and people see the almighty eco socialist and mass immigration clutter unfold they are very likely to vomit and as has happened all over the EU, common sense suddenly shakes people out of their slumber and they realise that the left are conning them with their equality for all garbage.

46
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DickieA
DickieA
10 months ago
Reply to  varmint

100% agree. And it’s when that time comes that they will seek a right of centre party – which the Conservatives haven’t been these past 14 years. I’m not convinced that if the Conservatives had a dramatic shift to the right that they could overcome the challenge of attracting sufficient labour supporters and former (pissed off) conservatives for electoral success, whereas a new right of centre political force could.

20
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Ron Smith
Ron Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  varmint

Yes equality for all is not compatible with National Sovereignty. All human, all the same means you cannot put the interest in British citizens first.

7
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wokeman
wokeman
10 months ago
Reply to  DickieA

The Farage brand is strong enough to drag many over to the Tory side if the likes of Hunt/Cameron can be eradicated for the CINO they are.

18
0
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
10 months ago
Reply to  DickieA

Agree. Over here in Yorkshire they are still voting against Maggie Thatcher…

19
0
varmint
varmint
10 months ago

Never mind the Free of Speech bit……Labour will be a disaster PERIOD. Labour have just won an election promising “CHANGE”. WTF does that actually mean? —–That “change” is actually a package of draconian Liberal Progressive tyranny. The enforcement of leftist dogma on a largely unsuspecting public who fell for the silly “change” slogan. ——Watch your electric bill skyrocket as Labour pretend to save the planet harder and faster than every other government on earth. Watch your perfectly good car scrapped in the process. Watch smart meters and heat pumps stuffed down your throat. Watch turbines spring up all over the country like magic mushrooms in September. Watch your shoreline turn into an Armada of huge Industrial windmills. Watch your Steak Diane turn into a memory. Watch your ability to speak freely about the tyranny vanish in a clutter of regulation and totalitarian dogma. Watch criminals move in next door because it was society that created them in the first place. In short then watch your freedom and prosperity disappear and guess what ? —–You are getting the government you all deserve, because you thought “Change” meant something

110
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huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
10 months ago
Reply to  varmint

Terrific post v.

23
0
varmint
varmint
10 months ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

I am humbled. ———The next 5 years for you and I is going to feel like we in the “Resistance”. This government must be brought down, before it brings us down.

11
0
10navigator
10navigator
10 months ago
Reply to  varmint

I’d wager a small percentage wanted ‘change’ for its own sake. The majority wanted it’s corollary, ie no more of the same, so hosed off were they by Sunak and Co and fourteen years of…….(cont’d on p92).

16
0
wokeman
wokeman
10 months ago

The Tory party of course should get on their hands and knees and beg Farage to be their leader. They won’t of course because the party is utterly corrupted by globalists and the deep state. See Cameron etc loading the bases of the safest seats with the wettest of the wet. There is a 4 letter word beginning with C that correctly describes Cameron

37
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
10 months ago
Reply to  wokeman

I’m not Trump’s greatest fan but he’s a lot better than the Dems and the RINOs. Because of the US system, an outsider can sort of take over a party, at least as far as the Presidency goes, by appealing to their voter base. Trickier in a completely parliamentary system.

17
0
wokeman
wokeman
10 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Trump is infinitely preferable to 99% of our politicians, however the bar is only 1cm high.

Last edited 10 months ago by wokeman
28
-1
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
10 months ago
Reply to  wokeman

If Farage gets in bed with the Tories they will bury him, he’s finished.

32
0
wokeman
wokeman
10 months ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

I’m saying it’s what should happen, if the Tories cared about the country….they don’t.

12
0
DickieA
DickieA
10 months ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Yes – Farage would be finished and so would any hope of a resurgent and successful right of centre movement.

15
0
Ron Smith
Ron Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  wokeman

Speaking of Deep State Tobias Ellwood of the 77th Brigade comes to mind.

12
0
john1T
john1T
10 months ago

The establishment wants to control the internet, period.

The establishment has historically had control of political discourse. Which stories appear in the newspapers, and which don’t. The internet took that control away. They want it back.

The things we will not be allowed to say are just a symptom. The real problem is that they think they have the right to censor in the first place. Here Anthony Blinken is discussing using AI tools the American State Department is developing to control what he deems to be misinformation. So openly talking about the state censorship via social media platforms that SCOTUS recently ruled permissible.

Last edited 10 months ago by john1T
25
0
Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
10 months ago

One of the primary purposes of the Trilaterals is to install puppet politicians that are both amenable to their interests and able to cajole the public. They have played it perfectly. They knew Sunak wouldn’t be around for long but just enough to ensure a smooth and stable transition to Starmer. Same agenda but dissent will obviously be rooted out with more vehemance and force and implied approval. Time to check your privilege. Maybe look in a full length mirror because you will clearly see that a man can have a vagina and titties. We are all black transgender Muslim lesbians now,

16
0
Ron Smith
Ron Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Jabby Mcstiff

Going by your conversation the other day, maybe YOU are a Muslim?

6
0

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