The Free Speech Union

Some of the Bills announced in the King’s Speech have caught the attention of the Free Speech Union because of the potential threat they pose to free speech: 1. Digital ID Bill 2. Removal of Peers Bill 3. National Security Bill 4. Courts and Tribunals Bill (which could dilute the right to trial by jury) 5. The ‘Hillsborough Law’ 6. A draft Bill to ban conversion therapy Watch General Secretary of the Free Speech Union Lord Young’s reaction below 👇

.@AndyBurnhamGM is saying what we’ve known all along. @DavidLammy's back-of-fag-packet plans to curtail jury trials are unworkable, unevidenced, unpopular and undemocratic. It's been clear since day one they would do absolutely nothing to reduce the backlog, or help victims. 1/5

It has become clear that the BBC has sacrificed impartiality on the altar of diversity, equality and inclusion. Those who refuse to subscribe to trans orthodoxy are ostracised by their peers and driven out of the corporation. The BBC has been captured by trans ideologues. For the best part of a decade, Stonewall has maintained a firm foothold within the BBC — particularly through its diversity team — and has been able to exert pressure on the corporation to embed its worldview. Rob Burley — a former senior BBC editor of 13 years — says that, as groupthink took hold, a number of people refused to toe the line. One was producer Cathy Leng, who was ostracised by colleagues after daring to question the inaccurate use of pronouns. Speaking to Rob Burley for the first time since she stepped down as director of BBC News, Fran Unsworth said that she was forced out of the BBC. She said “It was bullying”, adding that it “wasn’t just the trans issue. There was lots and lots of bullying going on about all sorts of things: people didn’t want to hear from certain points of view; they’d ‘no platform’ them; all that safe spaces shit.” Unsworth did add that it isn’t just the BBC that has been impacted by this issue and insisted that “The world went mad, and the BBC, because it is part of the world, went a bit mad with it. There was a sort of progressive madness going on.” But how can the BBC claim to be the unbiased national broadcaster — and pride itself on the quality and impartiality of its journalism — if it refuses to challenge trans ideologues? Rob Burley has exposed the capture of the BBC by trans activists and lifted the lid on the collapse of impartiality at the heart of the corporation. Read more in @thetimes and watch @RobBurl on the latest episode of the FSU Podcast with FSU Director of Policy and Research @DavidRoseUK 👇

I went on GB News to explain how Bracknell Forest Council is attacking free speech and democracy by trying to stop politicians from telling residents the truth about an Afghan resettlement hotel. I showed images of the four-star hotel accommodation being provided to Afghans. This is taxpayers’ money and an integral piece of information for residents to determine whether the level of support being provided is appropriate and fair. The information I shared was not confidential and was already in the public domain. If unelected council staff can decide what information politicians are and are not allowed to discuss (even when that information is not confidential), then that is a direct attack on democracy, because it shifts power away from elected representatives and towards unelected bureaucrats deciding what the public is allowed to know.

@lauralu13 You must have missed this. x.com/speechunion/st…

It’s been almost three months since the Government announced its official definition of Islamophobia — repackaged as “anti-Muslim hostility” — alongside plans to appoint an “Islamophobia Tsar”. Yet three months on, we still do not know who that individual will be. Given that the Free Speech Union recently exposed the troubling links between all five members of the working group drafting the definition and Islamist organisations, we are not optimistic. This definition is a de facto Islamic blasphemy law by the back door. It has already been weaponised to silence legitimate criticism, debate and scrutiny of Islam. Parliament abolished blasphemy laws in 2008. This Government is bringing them back for Islam alone. Hear from FSU Campaigns Officer @MaxHThompson 👇

📣🚨 NEW BOOK! Next month sees the publication of FSU Director of Case Management Dr Ben Jones’s new book, Island of Strangers: Diversity, Decline and Free Speech in Crisis. Britain is being transformed. It is becoming less free — and the situation is getting worse. The book explores how, as mass migration reshapes Britain’s population, an increasingly authoritarian state is attempting to manage the resulting hyper-diversity by suppressing freedom of speech. We see this in two-tier policing, in attempts to criminalise blasphemy against Islam, and even in the private sector, where thousands have been punished for expressing beliefs that fail to celebrate the UK as a multicultural paradise. Grounded in a long view of British history, and drawing heavily on Ben’s work at the FSU, Island of Strangers examines the deeper causes of why Sir Keir Starmer’s Britain feels increasingly unfree. It also confronts difficult questions: how competing identity groups are increasingly locked in conflict over the protection of their sacred values, and how the most significant challenge to Britain’s free speech tradition comes from Islam. The entire FSU team is incredibly proud of Ben and his work. You can preorder the book below 👇

The demographic transformation of our country is already destabilising our political culture. Managing such extreme levels of hyper-diversity is an innately authoritarian project. The public increasingly feel unfree. Free speech, mass migration, and cultural decline - these are the themes of 'Island of Strangers', my new book coming out with @LittleBrown on 11 June

Burnham would abandon Labour’s plan to scrap jury trials telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/…

Andy Burnham set to ditch Labour’s plan to slash our right to jury trials. The man hoping to be the next MP for Makerfield — and Prime Minister — has previously called on the Government to “pause” the plans, and has now warned against removing a “lynchpin of a fair society”. Mr Burnham told local radio: “My instinctive reaction is… proceed with huge caution and do not take away something that’s a lynchpin of a fair society. “My call to the Government is to pause this, take a step back, and give it proper consideration. “I understand the pressure on the courts, but this is about a fundamental part of our country. It has to proceed with broad consent if it’s to proceed. Perhaps there’s a case in some trials not to have a full jury trial. But it should be done with the broadest possible consent in society.” Read more below 👇

Andy Burnham would abandon Labour’s plan to curb juries. Not long now @DavidLammy. Not long now. telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/…

102 of the 532 Crown Court courtrooms across England and Wales are sitting empty today. That’s 18%. At the same time, David Lammy claims that slashing our fundamental right to trial by jury is the only way to tackle the Crown Court backlog of 80,000 cases. He says this despite there being no credible evidence to support the claim — and despite repeated warnings from lawyers and victims of crime that it would undermine trust in the criminal justice system. It’s time for Lammy to put his ego aside and U-turn. Open the courts. Save jury trials.

1 day to go until the Free Speech Union heads to Belfast! 🎟️Get tickets below 👇

The BBC has played a central role in one of the great medical and media scandals of our age. Its capitulation to trans activism won’t be forgotten, says Jo Bartosch buff.ly/My7eKRA

“I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the Free Speech Union”, says Graham Linehan. In the latest instalment of the FSU Member Testimonial series, @Glinner speaks about the support he has received from the Free Speech Union. Read more below 👇