Jewish student leaders hail move to scrap ‘car crash’ free speech bill

Just days before the bill was due to come into force last week, however, Education Minister Bridget Phillipson announced that she was stopping its implementation. She will now consider options for its repeal.

In guidance published by the Department for Education, officials said it was being scrapped over fears the legislation could protect those using hate speech on campus.

"It could also push providers to overlook the safety and well-being of minority groups, including Jewish students,” they said.

Sami Berkoff, the president of the Union of Jewish Students, told the JC that the legislation was a “slow-motion car crash” that could have given the green-light to Holocaust deniers to address students. 

It could also have undermined the tools used by universities to tackle antisemitism, she claimed.

"This included the removal of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition and the prevention of universities from mandating training deemed ‘controversial’, such as the antisemitism awareness training provided by UJS to thousands of campus leaders and university staff each year,” Berkoff said.

She added: “At UJS, we firmly believe that promoting freedom of speech is essential for creating spaces where students can express their views.

"However, despite further assurances from the university minister that safeguards would be in place, it was clear that they were insufficient. The legislation and guidance needed urgent revision to ensure protection for Jewish students and other minority groups and to provide reassurance for a more welcoming academic year.”

Danny Stone, the chief executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, said Phillipson’s decision heralded “a more reasoned and cautious approach to balancing freedoms”.

Had the free speech act been enacted, he argued, it could have forced universities to host those who deny the Shoah.

"In the UK, Holocaust denial is not illegal. Holocaust deniers have been prosecuted under various laws and it is not considered ‘protected’ speech, but it is nonetheless legal, and the Act mandated that institutions ensure lawful freedom of speech,” Stone said.

"There was never a clear answer on the legal protections Jewish students would have against Holocaust deniers coming onto campus.”

He continued: “The guidance offered examples of what should, and should not, be allowed. A reasonable interpretation of the text was that mandatory antisemitism training in which an answer was definitive as to whether something was anti-Jewish racism should not be permitted.

"Legally expressible viewpoints were to be protected, including in relation to protests or posters. It wasn’t clear therefore whether daubing ‘Free Palestine’ on a Jewish Society advertisement was allowed, or if another campus society could hand out Holocaust denial material.

Describing the bill as “a mess”, Stone said that “university leaders could make the cost/benefit analysis that upsetting Jewish students by failing to act on antisemitism was less expensive than the potential fines of £50,000 for getting a free speech decision wrong if taken to court via the provisions in the Act. It was a mess.”

Speaking to the Guardian, Phillipson said: “For too long, universities have been a political battlefield and treated with contempt, rather than as a public good, distracting people from the core issues they face.”

Damian Hinds, the shadow education secretary and former schools minister, told the Guardian that the government was misguided to scrap the legislation, however.

“Free speech is a fundamental right, and this must extend to universities. Without the ability to freely express views in higher education, these centres of learning risk becoming centres of co-option and intolerance,” he said.

“The fact this Labour government is willing to scrap the measures we put in place to protect these rights makes clear that they are willing to sacrifice the next generation on the altar of their own ideological dogma.”