The pro-life Conservative MP David Davis yesterday introduced a new Bill in Parliament “to place a duty on universities to promote freedom of speech." If the Bill is accepted and passed, it would make it the “absolute duty” of universities in the UK to uphold the right to free speech of pro-life students.
Introducing the Bill, Mr Davis lamented the “corrosive trend in our universities that aims to prevent anybody from airing ideas that groups disagree with or would be offended by”.
“The cost is already too high”, said Mr Davis, citing such examples as the no-platforming of the former Home Secretary Amber Rudd, as well as the noted pro-life journalist Peter Hitchens who had a speaking event at Portsmouth University “postponed” in 2019.
As one person on Twitter said at the time, not only was Mr Hitchens’ free speech cancelled, but also that of “the students who might have wanted to debate or engage with him”.
Mr Davis’s Bill would allow that debate to take place.
Noting a recent report by the think tank Civitas, which found that over a third of British universities impose severe restrictions on freedom of speech, Mr Davis, backed by several other MPs, said it was no longer acceptable that “cancel culture” be allowed to “obliterate the views of people” it disagrees with.
In 2019, SPUC reported on the struggle of the pro-life society Glasgow Students for Life to gain official affiliation from its own students’ union.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Here at SPUC we believe that universities must be bastions of free speech where students can discuss the issue of abortion, one of the central moral problems of our day, freely and without suffering persecution.
“Increasingly, SPUC has seen pro-life students discriminated against in universities. Only last September SPUC shamed Scottish universities in a damning report that showed them being complicit in a toxic culture that silences pro-life students.
“We welcome Mr Davis’s intervention and hope Parliament chooses to defend free speech of all its citizens.”
For a comprehensive report, put together by SPUC, together with the Alliance of Pro-Life Students, on the standard of pro-life free speech at Scottish universities, please visit https://www.free2speak.uk/.
Free2Speak: Email your MSP: https://www.spuc.org.uk/Get-Involved/Youth/Free2Speak
Similar stories
University professor threatens to punish students who oppose abortion – it is “grounds for dismissal”
Scottish universities shamed in damning report for failing to defend pro-life free speech rights of students
Glasgow Students for Life wins legal battle for affiliation to Students' Union