Labour “vetoed” Lucy Connolly from travelling to the United States after senior officials were consulted over whether she could take off British soil.
Speaking to GB News presenter Ben Leo on the channel’s flagship US show Late Show Live, the mother-of-two, 42, opened up about how she felt “massively state-controlled”.
The former childminder was jailed for stirring up racial hatred against asylum seekers online on the day of the Southport murders last year.
She was handed a 31-month sentence after sharing a post on X which read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b****** for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.”
The situation of travelling across the pond was kickstarted by Reform leader Nigel Farage asking if Mrs Connolly would join him while giving evidence to a US congressional committee into whether European laws “threaten Americans’ freedom of speech”.
Mrs Connolly told Ben: “Nigel was really keen for me to go with him to America to give evidence on this.
“As far as I’m aware, it was vetoed straight from the top. The original plan at the time was to go straight to David Lammy. I don’t know the ins and outs of what what was said and what happened.
“I just know that I got an answer back of it’s a hard no.”
While in America, Mr Farage criticised the Online Safety Act, which he believed gave “the most extraordinary and arbitrary powers” to Ofcom as he vowed his party would repeal it in Government.
Drawn up to make the internet safer, particularly for children, the law sets out rules for platforms such as Facebook and X to follow, which have raised concerns over free speech.
Reform’s policy chief Zia Yusuf claimed the Act “suppressed freedom of speech” and would “force social media companies to censor anti-government speech”.
Lucy Connolly admitted she still felt ‘massively’ state-controlled
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GB NEWS
Asked who was behind the decision, Mrs Connolly said it was “possibly” Justice Secretary David Lammy, although she was not certain.
Still, she found the situation “amusing” after having been freshly released from HMP Peterborough and then attempting to fly to North America.
“They’re never going to let me, of all people, go to the US to tell them my story and tell American how far we’ve fallen here with regards to free speech,” she added.
“It was always going to be a big ask to for them to sign that off. And I never really expected them, and they’ve just proved my point, haven’t they?”
BRITAIN’S FREE SPEECH CRISIS – READ MORE:
Lucy Connolly said Nigel Farage invited her to join him on a trip to America
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PA
Reflecting on the situation, Ben commented “it seems pretty authoritarian”, while Mrs Connolly concurred that she felt “massively” controlled by the state.
Upon her release, Mrs Connolly has been slapped with level 3 multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA), throwing the wife of former Conservative councillor Raymond Connolly in with the likes of “offenders who present the highest risk of serious harm”, including sex offenders.
As a result, if Mrs Connolly wants to attend a large gathering of more than 50 people, such as a conference, officials have to give her the green light.
“Don’t be fooled into thinking that they made my life really easy now because they don’t,” Mrs Connolly lamented.
Flabbergasted, Ben admitted: “I am absolutely astonished. You’re basically chucked in the same bag as sex offenders and, you know, some of the worst people in society.”
Mrs Connolly said she was put in such a category due to the nature of her case being so high profile.
On July 29, Mrs Connolly deleted the posts that led to her arrest three-and-a-half hours after they were viewed more than 310,000 times on X.
Earlier this year, the former childminder was ordered to serve 40 per cent of her sentence in jail before being released on licence.
She pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing “threatening or abusive” written material and was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in October 2024.
Since then, Mrs Connolly has spoken out about the state of free speech in Britain, which, she believes, is being eroded.
“We have free speech as long as your political opinions and your political views align with the current Government,” she said. “And if they don’t, then, you know, they’ll do something about that. Throw you in prison, make an example of you whatever, whatever they might be feeling like that day.”
GB News has approached the Ministry of Justice for comment.
