The Deputy Prime Minister (Oliver Dowden)
Vigorous and robust debate is at the heart of British democracy and is essential to its health.
However, in recent years, elected representatives and other public figures have been subject to increasing levels of intimidation and abuse, aimed at them and their families. As the Prime Minister set out on 1 March, council meetings and local events have been stormed, and MPs do not feel safe in their own homes. On 21 February, protesters threatened to force this House to have to “lock the doors of Parliament” and highly divisive slogans were projected on to the walls outside. The Government remain committed to ensuring that those who commit acts of evil or promote mob rule over democratic rule will never triumph.
It is important to distinguish between strongly felt political debate on the one hand, and unacceptable acts of abuse, intimidation and violence on the other. British democracy has always been robust and oppositional, but there can never be an excuse to try to shout down democratic process or deliver social change through force, rather than force of argument.
Free speech within the law can sometimes involve the expression of political views that some may find offensive. But a line is crossed when disagreement mutates into intimidation, which refuses to tolerate other opinions and seeks to deprive others from exercising their free speech and freedom of association.
Three years ago, my right hon. Friend, the Member for Norwich North (Chloe Smith) set out the steps that the Government are taking to tackle intimidation in public life—9 March 2021, HCWS833. This followed the then Prime Minister’s 2017 commission of the Committee on Standards in Public Life to undertake a review into abuse and intimidation in elections and the subsequent Government response.
With scheduled elections in the UK on 2 May, I wish to update hon. Members on the Government’s wider programme of work in this area.
Attachments can be viewed online at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2024-03-18/HCWS348/
[HCWS348]