Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Lee Anderson

Monday 27th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

13. What steps she is taking to support free speech in educational settings.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Bridget Phillipson)]

It was a Labour Government who first enshrined freedom of expression in law, and Labour is to this day committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom. That is why we are pressing ahead with a robust, rigorous and workable Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, and taking common-sense decisions in the national interest.

[Lee Anderson]

Unfortunately, a minority of teachers subscribe to the sort of dog-whistle, divisive politics sometimes heard from those on the Government Benches —and from those down here on the Liberal Democrat Benches, by the way. This has put some children in Ashfield off expressing their own opinions during sensible debate in schooltime. Does the Secretary of State agree that while in the classroom, teachers should remain politically neutral?

[Bridget Phillipson]

I have had the privilege of visiting hundreds of schools across our country, and I can tell Members that children in the schools I visit are usually never backward in coming forward with their opinions; I would hope that is the case in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, too. Of course, schools have a duty to promote fundamental British values and are subject to long-standing legal duties that prohibit them from promoting partisan political views.