Public trust in Government on free speech falling, new poll reveals

Britons have lost confidence in the Government to protect free speech, new polling commissioned by Liberty has found.

The civil liberties organisation warned that recent Government actions on high-profile free speech issues, including travel bans and anti-protest laws, have likely contributed to declining public confidence.

Liberty said this combined with the Government’s failure to show leadership on free speech has fuelled dangerous claims of ‘two-tier policing’.

The polling revealed widespread concern about the state of free expression in Britain and suggests the public feel far less confident both in their rights and in the Government’s willingness to protect them than they did two years ago.

A majority of Britons (51%) say their confidence in the UK Government protecting people’s right to express their views, even if it disagrees with them, has got worse over the past two years. Just one in ten (10%) believe it has improved.

Other key findings showed:

• Nearly four in ten people (39%) believe their ability to speak freely on important issues has got worse over the past two years.
• More than four in ten (42%) believe their ability to express controversial political opinions without facing legal consequences has got worse.
• Nearly four in ten (39%) believe their understanding of what is and is not allowed to be said under UK law has worsened.

Government actions on high-profile free speech issues that Liberty has said have likely contributed to declining public confidence on free speech include:

• Travel bans imposed on eleven speakers at the Unite the Kingdom rallies in May, as well as bans on Cenk Uyghur and Hasan Piker in June.
• The highly publicised arrests of nearly 3,000 people for showing support for Palestine Action under counter-terror legislation after the group was proscribed in June 2025.
• Calls by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer in May for blanket bans on chants such as “globalise the intifada”, alongside further clampdowns on protest rights through the Crime and Policing Bill.

Liberty is calling on the new Prime Minister to adopt a more consistent and non-partisan approach to free speech – one that balances the public’s right to express views which are offensive or insulting with the need to protect people from hate speech.

It argues that do this the Government must apply laws that govern speech consistently across the political spectrum, rather than through heavier policing and greater restrictions on lawful speech.

Akiko Hart, Liberty Director, said:

“The new Prime Minister must see these findings as a warning sign. Free speech is a fundamental right that benefits us all, and a healthy democracy depends on people feeling confident that they can express themselves freely and disagree with each other.”

“Over the past two years the Government has failed to show leadership and consistency on free speech which has created a vacuum on the issue and helped fuel the dangerous two-tier policing claims.”

“We’re fortunate to live in a nation shaped by many identities and perspectives which means that differences of opinion and views that could upset or offend others are inevitable. This makes it all the more important for the new Prime Minister to adopt a non-partisan approach to free speech and move away from greater restrictions.