British PM scrambles to deny censorship policies during Trump visit
British Prime Minister desperately tried to deny his administration’s infamous censorship policies during a meeting with President Trump on Monday.
Under UK law, citizens who post “harmful content” online face up to two years in prison. Taxpayers have been arrested and imprisoned for voicing criticism against gender ideology, migrant violence, and Islam. Police have even arrested citizens for silently praying outside abortion centers. Britain’s Home Office recently assembled a National Internet Intelligence Investigations team, a law enforcement unit tasked with monitoring anti-immigration posts online. According to a November study, British police spend an estimated 60,000 hours a year investigating reports of non-criminal hate incidents. In 2023 alone, police made an average of 30 arrests per day for “offensive” social media posts. Last year, Starmer responded to anti-immigration protests by announcing a crack down on “criminal speech.”
This crackdown on free speech has earned rebukes from both President Trump and Vice President JD Vance. In April, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration might even consider granting asylum to Brits who flee the UK to avoid arrest over free speech.
‘We’re not censoring anyone’
But on Monday, when confronted by a reporter as Trump looked on, Starmer nervously tried to deny the UK’s censorship, claiming that the government is only suppressing content that can lead to teen suicides.
“We’re not censoring anyone,” Starmer said. “We’ve got some measures that are there to protect children, in particular from sites like suicide sites, we’ve had too many cases in the United Kingdom of young children taking their own lives and when you look through their social media, they’ve been accessing some sites which talk about suicide and encouraging, if you like, children down that road and that is what we want to stop. Nothing about censoring free speech. This country is proud [to have] free speech in this country, we’ve had it for a very long time and we’re very, very proud of it.”
“We will protect [free speech] forever, but at the same time, I personally feel very strongly that we should protect our young teenagers, and that’s what it usually is, from things like suicide sites and that’s not a free speech issue. I see that as a child protection issue,” he added.
Starmer: ‘We’re very proud’ to defend free speech
During the initial press conference outside Trump Turnberry in Turnberry, Scotland, a reporter posed a question about free speech.
“Can you discuss the importance of free speech today?” she asked.
Trump responded by diplomatically lobbing the question at Starmer.
“Well, free speech is very important,” said the president. “I don't know if you're referring to any place in particular. Perhaps they are. But—”
Starmer cut in to insist the British government protects free speech, earning a smirk and gesture from Trump.
“We've had free speech for a very, very long time here,” the prime minister said with a nervous laugh. “So, we're very proud about that.”
