A last-ditch bid to save freedom of expression in Britain is set to be launched within days with a Bill designed to block the Government from “controlling speech”.
The legislation has been drafted by digital rights and free speech campaigner Preston Byrne, a senior fellow at the Adam Smith Institute (ASI).
Speaking to GB News, he said the Bill – which he has dubbed a “First Amendment for the UK” – was designed to “put locks on the doors” currently stopping the Government censoring Britons.
The warnings of Mr Byrne, an American, follow a number of high-profile interventions into UK free speech from across the Atlantic.
Preston Byrne has hailed his Bill as a direct mirror to the States’ First Amendment
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GB NEWS
He said it was now “ready to be introduced” after months of careful planning.
In total, it contains 32 sections, plans for seven Acts of Parliament to be fully repealed, six schedules, four new public order offences and two new communications offences.
Asked whether the proposal had been picked up in Westminster, the activist revealed “a couple” of parliamentarians “know it’s coming”.
He said: “Not too many politicians have seen the final Bill – I just emailed the bill to one member of the House of Lords.
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“But really, this is going to be offered to the British public… It’s going to be available for anyone who’s interested in it to pick it up.
“It’s our vision of what a free Britain looks like, which is going to be very different from the political parties and other people.
“But really, this is a proof of concept. It’s designed to teach English politicians and English activists, listen, there is a way within your constitutional system that you can replicate American free speech protections and we think that this is the approach.”
The free speech campaigner affirmed the act was “non-partisan” – and has called on cross-party activists to throw their support behind getting the bill enshrined into law.
Then, probed on whether regulators like Ofcom were already protecting free speech in Britain, the ASI senior fellow described them as examples of the “Government controlling speech”.
He said: “This bill is designed to something very simple: It gets the Government out of the business of policing the opinions of the British people.
“The Government doesn’t get a say in the future that we see and what people say and think.
“It’s not going to be able to arrest people for it, it’s not going to be able to penalise them for it, it’s not going to be able to force them to say things that they don’t want to say,” he added, citing Government-mandated DEI schemes.
Mr Byrne’s Free Speech Act will be published on April 1 at the Adam Smith Institute.
