The Tories’ free speech laws would’ve “emboldened Holocaust denial”, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said.
The Cabinet minister has announced she is reviving controversial laws to protect free speech at universities – but has tightened up the legislation. In particular she has removed the risk of universities being sued for not upholding free speech.
Officials said, under the previous proposals, universities may have become so worried about financial repercussions for not protecting free speech that they’d end up defending “hateful or degrading speech” instead of looking out for vulnerable students.
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Phillipson hit out at the former Conservative government’s Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. “What we inherited from the last government was not a genuine attempt to solve a genuine problem. It was a mess designed to put party ahead of country,” she said.
“We saw a misplaced fascination with headlines for themselves, rather than for a serious attempt to safeguard freedom of speech and academic freedom and it is precisely because this Government cares about academic freedom and freedom of speech that we are determined to get this right.” She added: “Let me be clear, Holocaust denial has no place on campus or anywhere else in our society, and the previous legislation would have emboldened Holocaust denial and showed a shameful disregard for the welfare of Jewish students.”
Critics accused Ms Phillipson of U-turning on the issue after pausing the implementation of the legislation when elected to government. But she hit back at her opponents: “If members opposite want to know what a U-turn on free speech looks like, I suggest they turn their attention to Liz Truss, who for so long extolled the virtues of free speech and is now on some kind of bizarre quest to cancel the Prime Minister for saying that she and the party opposite crashed the economy – freedom of speech cuts both ways. What a bunch of snowflakes.”
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Under Ms Phillipson’s reaffirmed commitments, the Office for Students will have the power to investigate complaints over breaches of free speech from academics, external speakers and members of universities, as well as issuing fines. Universities who flout the rules will be publicly held to account and could end up paying compensation, risk facing fines and the suspension of their registration, in the most extreme circumstances.
But officials said “unnecessary” elements of the Act which risk leaving universities vulnerable to disproportionate costs for legal disputes will be scrapped, including the statutory tort. “This would have exposed already struggling providers to large costly legal fees, driven by potentially unnecessary complaints, that would have forced money intended for students to be diverted,” the Department for Education said.
“The threat of legal action and the financial fallout for universities breaching their duties under the Act might push some providers to overly defend hateful or degrading speech instead of looking out for students who feel intimidated, out of fear of the consequences.”
Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott argued that the tort should not be removed from the legislation. She said: “Without the tort, what are the consequences that universities will face if they don’t protect free speech?”
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