The Free Speech Union has threatened to bring a judicial review against Bridget Phillipson after she halted the Freedom of Speech Act just days before it was due to come into force. The Telegraph has the story.
The Education Secretary announced last week she had pulled the plug on the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 and would now consider repealing it.
The flagship Tory policy was set to require universities, colleges and student unions to actively promote free speech on campus.
Prof Arif Ahmed, the Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the Office for Students (OfS), had also spent a year designing a complaints scheme to implement the law. It would have allowed him to take submissions from academics who had been “cancelled” over their personal beliefs.
The Free Speech Union said the Government’s decision to “kill off” the legislation would make it “virtually impossible for students and academics to challenge radical progressive ideology on campus”.
In a pre-action protocol letter, the first stage before a judicial review, it alleged Ms. Phillipson’s decision to axe the legislation was “unlawful”.
“The Secretary of State was not entitled to act as she has done because she opposes the legislation or its policy. Any repeal of the legislation is a matter for Parliament not the executive,” the letter sent on Friday claimed.
The Free Speech Union also accused the Education Secretary of acting unlawfully by removing protections for “people of certain protected groups”, such as “gender critical persons or those who espouse minority political views”.
It called on Ms. Phillipson to publish proof that she had considered the possible implications of repealing the free speech laws for certain groups.
The Act was introduced after a series of rows over the so-called cancellation of academics and students over their views. They include Dr. Kathleen Stock, a philosophy professor, who resigned from Sussex University in 2021 after what she described as a witch-hunt over her views on transgender issues.
Toby Young, the Director of the Free Speech Union, said: “Bridget Phillipson’s decision to kill off a piece of legislation that enjoyed cross-party support in the last parliament gives the lie to her claim that she’s too high-minded to engage in culture war politics.
“This is a flagrant abuse of political power in pursuit of a narrow ideological agenda. At a stroke, she has made it virtually impossible for students and academics to challenge radical progressive ideology on campus.”
Worth reading in full.
Judicial review is horribly expensive. Please donate to help the FSU save the Freedom of Speech Act here.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.