🚨 Later tonight, FSU Head Lord Young will speak in the House of Lords against Clause 20 of the Employment Rights Bill — a provision that could extend workplace speech policing into pubs, stadiums, and universities.

Here’s what’s at stake — and how you can help 🧵 1️⃣ Clause 20 would make employers liable for non-sexual ‘harassment’ by third parties — not just for what’s said to employees, but for jokes, offhand remarks, or even political opinions they might simply overhear.

This is state-enforced speech policing, plain and simple. It will extend the fearful, stifling atmosphere already gripping workplaces to pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, stadiums and universities — accelerating Britain’s transformation into East Germany circa 1984.

🎥 Watch @toadmeister and Conservative MP @griffitha explain why this matters.

At a recent PMQs, @KemiBadenoch told MPs that Labour’s adoption of the APPG on British Muslims’ definition of ‘Islamophobia’ has inhibited public discussion of rape gangs.

She pointed out that under this definition, anyone highlighting the over-representation of Muslim men in grooming gangs risks being branded an Islamophobe. Some Labour MPs, she said, have been "scared to tell the truth”.

She’s right — but here’s a thread on why the problem runs even deeper. 🧵👇 The APPG definition was drawn up in 2018 under Wes Streeting and Anna Soubry. It defines Islamophobia as: “A type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” Labour formally adopted it in 2019, and its chilling effect on free speech has only grown since.

🧵1/4 Free speech under threat!

Labour has officially adopted the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims’ dangerously broad and subjective definition of ‘Islamophobia’ — as have dozens of Labour-run councils, including in areas where grooming gangs have operated. Under this definition, even stating that some of these gangs are of Pakistani heritage could be deemed ‘Islamophobic’.

Now, with Labour in government and Angela Rayner proposing an ‘Islamophobia council’, the risk is real. Once adopted as official guidance for public bodies, individuals could face accusations of Islamophobia simply for criticising aspects of Islam, or Islamic practices.

In the worst-case, such remarks could be treated as stirring up religious hatred — an offence under Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 — leading to criminal charges and even jail time. This is a dangerous path, one that threatens the principle of open discourse on which democracy depends. Read FSU staffer Freddie Attenborough’s piece in The Spectator on why it matters.

spectator.co.uk/article/islamo… 2/4 And what about ex-Muslims who have left Islam and want to explain why?

As FSU Director of Case Management Dr @BenBarryJones recently pointed out, the right not to believe is a cornerstone of liberal democracy. Yet apostates from Islam living in the UK already face ostracism, threats, and even violence.

For those who already bear the greatest personal cost for speaking out, a non-statutory definition of ‘Islamophobia’ — apparently favoured by Angela Rayner and her Labour colleagues — would make an already dangerous climate even worse.

Watch Ben's interview with NTD's @LeeAlanHall here.

youtube.com/watch?v=1OtCM7…

You can also read the shocking findings of Ben's doctoral research into the experiences of Muslim apostates in the UK here.

freespeechunion.org/shocking-findi…

Ben found numerous people wanting to leave Islam who have been forced to live ‘double lives,’ had their finances seized by relatives, or even faced physical assault.

In one case, a police officer told a 19-year-old lesbian under threat from her parents that she should avoid speaking openly about leaving the faith.

How much worse would it get for others like her if the APPG definition were formally adopted as government guidance?

The Labour Party's adoption of a controversial definition of Islamophobia makes it difficult for Keir Starmer to discuss rape gangs, @KemiBadenoch told MPs during PMQs. She's right, as we flagged up in a 2024 briefing paper. Here's a 🧵on why the problem goes deeper than that... The definition Mrs Badenoch referred to was drafted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims in 2018. It was drawn up when Wes Streeting – now the Health Secretary – was its chairman and describes Islamophobia as "a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness".

In response to freedom of information requests, police forces across Britain have revealed that 'non-crime hate incidents' (NCHIs) are being logged against people in authority doing their jobs. Examples include:

❌ An NCHI recorded against a doctor in West Yorkshire after a patient alleged they were misdiagnosed "because they were bisexual".

❌ A journalist's article about his interview with a "deaf and dumb" scooterist being reported to the police as a hate incident.

❌ A social worker was also reported to the police in Lancashire over claims she had abused her position and racially discriminated against the victim by preventing her from seeing her children.

freespeechunion.org/doctors-and-vi…

In 2014, the College of Policing — a taxpayer-funded quango — came up with the concept of the NCHI in its 'Hate Crime Operational Guidance'. As defined in this document, an NCHI is any incident perceived by the victim or any bystanders to be motivated by hostility or prejudice to the victim based on a 'protected' characteristic (race or perceived race, religion or perceived religion, and so on).

For the avoidance of doubt, non-crime hate incidents really are as Orwellian as they sound. They aren't anonymised, and sit forever against the names of the alleged perpetrators without any real investigation or right of appeal. In addition, if one is recorded against your name it can show up on an enhanced criminal records check and prevent you from getting a job.

That's right, you might not get a job because someone 'perceives' you've committed a 'non-crime'.

Here's a short 🧵detailing some of the most egregious of the 250,000+ NCHIs we estimate the police in England and Wales have logged since 2014... In June 2022, Wiltshire Police opened a non-crime hate incident file when an 11-year-old boy was called "shorty" and "leprechaun" in the street by another boy.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

FSU member and Telegraph journalist @AllisonPearson is facing a police investigation over an X post from last year — a member of the public complained, and officers initially logged it as an Orwellian 'non-crime hate incident' (NCHI). Needless to say, we're providing our member with support.

telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/1… For the avoidance of doubt, NCHIs really are as Orwellian as they sound — if one is recorded against your name it can show up on an enhanced criminal records check and prevent you from getting a job.

That's right, you might not get a job because you've committed a 'non-crime'.

Since 2014, a quarter of a million NCHIs have been recorded in England and Wales alone — an average of more than 65 a day.

Because of their obvious chilling effect on free speech, in 2023 the then home secretary @SuellaBraverman raised the threshold for police recording of NCHIs. Under this guidance, officers are now only supposed to record a NCHI if the incident is "clearly motivated by intentional hostility".

thecritic.co.uk/the-return-of-…

Attempts are underway across Europe to police what football fans — and players — say about matters of ongoing public debate, and curtail their #freedomofexpression.

Suddenly, 'the beautiful game' has become the battleground in the latest fight to defend #freespeech.

Here's a 🧵 detailing some of the highest-profile cases the FSU has come across over the past 12 month. In France, Monaco FC midfielder Mohamed Camara was suspended for four games after covering up an LGBT badge on his shirt during a match.

Following Camara's refusal to comply, French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said the player should be subject to "the strongest sanctions".

thecritic.co.uk/the-football-w…

This isn't a one-off aberration — in fact, the French League's move to sanction Camera is just the latest troubling sign that football authorities across Europe are seeking to impose a radically 'progressive' equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) agenda that, in its headlong rush to protect the rights of certain pre-identified 'vulnerable' and 'marginalised' groups, infringes the rights of others to freedom of expression as established by both Strasbourg jurisprudence and national case law.

1/4 BREAKING: As you may have seen, the teenager accused of murdering three young girls in Southport has been charged with possessing a military study of an Al-Qaeda training manual, and the manufacture of ricin poison. Read our statement below.

freespeechunion.org/southport-atta…

The mass stabbing perpetrated by Axel Rudakubana targeted children at a Taylor Swift dance workshop in Southport on Monday, July 29th. Along with the fatalities there were 10 people injured, including eight children. On July 30th and over subsequent days there were outbreaks of civil disorder in England and Northern Ireland.

We suspect some of the prosecutions of people for saying supposedly inflammatory things on social media may now be unsafe — for instance, the man in Cumbria sentenced to eight weeks in jail for reposting three allegedly ‘Islamophobic’ memes on Facebook. At the very least, it may be grounds for appealing their often draconian jail sentences.

And what about the many people arrested in August for social media posts about the Southport attack who came under enormous pressure from the police to plead guilty? Did the police know at that time that the news about the link to an Islamist training manual would eventually come out and that once it had it would be more difficult to persuade a jury to convict these people? If so, that may be a good basis for a law suit.

We’ve provided legal assistance to several of our members who did get into difficulty over the summer for saying things about the Southport attack on social media, including a Royal Marines veteran prosecuted for a Facebook video who has pleaded not guilty. His trial is forthcoming and we’re paying for a solicitor and a barrister... 2/4 If you’re planning to say something on social media about today’s news, we have published some FAQs on online offences related to civil disorder — if you’re an FSU member, you can access them at the link below.



The FAQs offer some guidance on what you can and can’t say without getting into trouble.freespeechunion.org/online-offence…

🚨BREAKING: Pub landlords will be turned into 'banter police', venues will be less likely to book edgy performers, and universities will be gifted a lawful reason to rescind invitations to controversial guest speakers under reforms to workers' rights that form part of the government's ongoing war on free speech.

Provisions in the draft Employment Rights Bill mean the Equality Act 2010 will be updated to make employers liable for staff being offended by third parties, such as customers or members of the public.

This will have disastrous consequences for #freedomofspeech, impose huge compliance costs on Britain's one-and-a-half million businesses, further the encroachment into our lives of a philosophy of mindless compliance, and bring Starmer-esque joylessness to areas where we were once able to enjoy life — the Telegraph has the story.

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/…

Needless to say, the FSU will be campaigning against these provisions, briefing supporters across both Houses of Parliament on the threat they pose to free speech and #freedomofexpression.

Here's a quick explainer thread... The Equality Act already makes employers liable for breaches of the Equality Act by employees (but not third parties).

The leap made in Labour's Employment Rights Bill is to apply this regime to harassment by third parties — employers will be vicariously liable for harassment that their employees suffer at the hands of third parties (i.e., members of the public) in the course of employment.

In other words, employers will have a duty to protect their workers from overhearing 'upsetting' remarks made not only by their colleagues, but by members of the public as well.

Across the retail, hospitality, entertainment and academic sectors, businesses will thus have a legitimate legal interest in policing what members of the public say — what we now think of as every day, casual and fundamentally private speech will be governed by formal codes of conduct and scrutinised for its potential legal consequences.

This is an unacceptable bid to legalise the interactions of day-to-day life.

🚨 BREAKING: We've written to the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper threatening to take her to the High Court over her plan to force police officers to record more 'non-crime hate incidents' (NCHIs)!



👊 We're not prepared to stand idly by while this Labour Government takes us back to the bad old days when the subjective perception of 'hatred' was enough to have your name and address logged in a police database. Details on NCHIs are below.



🤐 If you're worried about the Government's continuing, extrajudicial onslaught on civil liberties, now might be a good time to become an FSU member. Click the link, join the resistance.



🚔 For the avoidance of doubt, 'non-crime hate incidents' really are as Orwellian as they sound — if one is recorded against your name it can show up on an enhanced criminal records check and prevent you from getting a job. That's right, you might not get a job because someone perceives you've committed a 'non-crime'.

🧵 Here's a short thread detailing some of the most egregious of the 250,000+ NCHIs we estimate the police in England and Wales have logged since 2014...thesun.co.uk/news/politics/…
thecritic.co.uk/the-return-of-…
freespeechunion.org/join/ In June 2022, Wiltshire Police opened a non-crime hate incident file when an 11-year-old boy was called "shorty" and "leprechaun" in the street by another boy.
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

THREAD🧵It's now clear Sir Keir Starmer intends to use the riots as an excuse to clamp down on one of our most fundamental human rights: the right to free speech. Many politicians, journalists and academics are cheering him on... #1 Draconian Online Safety Act "not fit for purpose", says Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

If you're worried about this Government's war on free speech, you need to join the FSU.

Sir Keir Starmer has already proved to be the most authoritarian British leader since Oliver Cromwell, and he's only been in power for four weeks.

How much worse is it going to get?

The risks we're concerned about include a Westminster version of the Scottish Hate Crime Act, the criminalisation of 'Islamophobia', a 'conversion practices' ban that will punish parents, doctors and teachers who dissent from gender ideology, a Race Equality Act that will embed Critical Race Theory across workplaces, and an attempt to force newspapers and magazines to bend the knee to a state-controlled press regulator.

Join the resistance.



👊👊👊

Whether you're a new member, prospective member, or someone who is thinking about making a donation, here's a thread about who we are and what we do to stand up for the speech rights of our 14,000+ members, in the workplace and the public square…freespeechunion.org/join/ We've taken on more than 2,700 cases since 2020, helping people who've been punished for something they've said, either in the workplace or the public square — and when we're involved with a case all the way we achieve a favourable result for our member 74% of the time!

We now have a four-person legal team and a five-person case team.

The case and legal work we do that makes the headlines is really just the tip of the iceberg, but here are a few of our highest-profile recent cases...

Hello, welcome, and thank you to all the new members joining us since news broke that our member, Newcastle United Football Club fan Linzi Smith, has been banned from attending games at St James' Park until 2026 for expressing her 'gender critical' belief that sex is binary and immutable.

We are continuing to support Linzi with her case, which you can find out more about below.



Whether you're a new member, or someone who's thinking about joining us, here's a short 🧵about who we are, and what we do to stand up for the free speech rights of our 12,000+ members, in the workplace and the public square...freespeechunion.org/football-fan-b… Linzi's shocking case is just one of the 2,250+ cases the FSU has been involved with in the past three years, helping people who've been punished for something they've said — and when we're involved with a case all the way we achieve a favourable result for our member 73% of the time!

The case and legal work we do that makes the headlines is really just the tip of the iceberg, but here are a few of our highest-profile recent cases...

1/ THREAD: West Yorkshire Police Force has now dropped its investigation against an autistic girl arrested on suspicion of a hate crime for telling a female officer: "You look like my lesbian nana." Good. We wrote to the Force's Chief Constable today, outlining our concerns...

https://twitter.com/WestYorksPolice/status/1690042791395569681

2/ As we pointed out in our letter, this case raises serious concerns about officers’ lack of understanding of free speech. The incident did not meet the threshold for a non-crime hate incident (NCHI) recording, much less a prosecution, for the following reasons...

1/ "Over the past three years, the Free Speech Union has supported more than 2,000 cases of people who’ve lost their jobs or been disciplined at work for lawful #freespeech." Great to be mentioned by Equalities Minister @KemiBadenoch in @thetimes today!
thetimes.co.uk/article/73977f… 2/ The de-banking scandal currently impacting people from across the political spectrum is "just the tip of the iceberg", she says. In recent years, an obsession with 'diversity' has led to "Kafkaesque madness" whereby "people's livelihoods are being threatened for their views".

1/ Following the de-banking of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage by NatWest subsidiary Coutts, more NatWest customers are now coming forward to say that "political posts on social media" may have been behind the bank's decision to shutter their accounts.
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1… 2/ Despite public denials that they carry out checks on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the four biggest high street lenders and several others have quietly introduced the right to monitor customers’ social media into their privacy policies.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/2…

1/ Documents obtained under a subject access request by @Nigel_Farage reveal his Coutts account was closed after a risk committee decided his friendship with Donald Trump, and his views on Brexit and LGBT rights, "do not align with our values".
telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/1… 2/ Closing his accounts was not justifiable on a monetary basis, a Coutts briefing document noted. Nevertheless, the bank took the decision to "exit" Mr Farage, on the basis that "his publicly stated views were at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation".

🧵THREAD

1/ When Yorkshire Building Society asked longstanding customer Rev Richard Fothergill for feedback, he politely queried why his local branch was festooned with Pride flags. Four days later the UK's third biggest mutual closed his savings account.
thetimes.co.uk/article/buildi… 2/ FSU member Rev Fothergill approached us for support after @Yorkshire_BS notified him of its decision. As FSU Head Toby Young told @thetimes: “If you respond to a bank’s request for feedback in good faith you shouldn’t lose your account if you say something it doesn’t like."

1/ When the Yorkshire Building Society asked longstanding customer Rev Richard Fothergill for feedback, he politely queried why his local branch was festooned with Pride flags. Four days later, the UK's third biggest mutual closed his savings account.
thetimes.co.uk/article/buildi… 2/ Rev Fothergill approached the FSU after his bank notified him of its decision. FSU Head Toby Young told @thetimes: “If you respond to a bank’s request for feedback in good faith you shouldn’t lose your account if you say something it doesn’t like."

OfS figures show a rise in the number of scheduled events not taking place at English universities—but the higher education watchdog warns that the data "may not show the full picture" of #cancelculture's chilling effect on the public sphere on campus.

timeshighereducation.com/english-regula… As we point out in our research briefing on the Higher Education (#FreedomOfSpeech) Bill, which recently received Royal Assent, cancellation of visiting speakers isn't an adequate measure of the scale of the #freespeech crisis at English universities.

🔗freespeechunion.org/higher-educati…

The Worker Protection Bill will have grave implications for #freedomofspeech in this country, as well as imposing huge compliance costs on Britain’s businesses. This week, the legislation reached second reading in the #houseoflords, and there were some terrific speeches. Clause 1 of the Bill imposes a duty on employers to take "all reasonable steps" to protect staff from overhearing upsetting remarks made by customers. As a publisher and museum trustee, Lord @IanStrathcarron was able to explain why this part of the Bill wouldn't work in practice.