The Lords Amendments to the Higher Education (#FreedomofSpeech) Bill were debated in the #HouseofCommons last night and there was a great outcome—Amendment 10, which seeks to remove the right of students and staff to sue universities that breach their speech rights, was rejected! 
Clause 4 of the legislation creates a statutory tort, which Amendment 10 sought to delete. The FSU's position is clear—the tort is what gives the legislation's new free speech duties teeth, and if it's removed then the Bill is essentially a dead letter.
🔗freespeechunion.org/higher-educati…
🔗freespeechunion.org/higher-educati…
Among the MPs who rose to support the Government's decision to reject Amendment 10 were John Hayes, who described the tort as "an essential method to give weight to the Bill and teeth to the principles it embodies, and one that gives voice to those who currently feel voiceless".
Miriam Cates said the tort will enable staff and students whose free speech rights are infringed to seek "rapid redress in a financially affordable way". Without it, she said, the Bill's free speech protections could only be enforced via a prohibitively expensive judicial review.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
