Government to Reactivate University Free Speech Act

Education Secretary expected to implement legislation halted by general election

A student protest in London.
(Image: UNSPLASH)

The Government is expected to reactivate legislation on free speech at universities in the next few days.

Originally proposed by the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act was passed in 2023. 

Following Labour’s election win last July it was halted due to concerns over student welfare and concerns from the incoming government, as reported to the BBC, that Holocaust deniers could be accepted on campus.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has reconsidered and is now expected to implement the law.

The law was proposed after controversies relating to the National Union of Students’ (NUS) No Platform policy. The NUS adopted No Platform in 1974, but concerns were raised in the last decade that the policy had been extended beyond barring the far right from speaking.

Speakers and academics viewed by some as transphobic, including gender-critical academic Kathleen Stock at the Oxford Union in 2023, faced protests when speaking. In 2020, Oxford professor Selena Todd was no-platformed from a debate on transgender rights issues.

While the changes to the Act’s implementation remain unknown, the Telegraph reported that the legislation was not expected to maintain a “statutory tort” or compensation scheme. Universities UK had written to Phillipson to express concerns that the tort would be misused. It is also speculated that ministers may remove part of the legislation requiring the Office for Students to “monitor overseas funding” of universities.

A statement from Phillipson said that academic freedom mattered more than students not being offended, and that the government would ensure the function of the new law.

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