2 days ago
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US calls to weaken the UK’s hate speech laws in exchange for a trade deal have sparked a strong reaction from Independent readers, with many alarmed at what they see as foreign interference in British democracy.
While a few acknowledged problems with how free speech is handled in the UK, most were strongly opposed to the idea of giving in to pressure from Washington – particularly from US Vice President JD Vance, who has reportedly demanded the scrapping of protections for minorities.
Many voiced concern that free speech is being weaponised by powerful figures – including President Donald Trump – not to defend open debate, but to shut down criticism while playing the victim.
One reader even described his conditions as “neofascist” and out of step with Britain’s democratic values.
Others warned that the UK’s need for a post-Brexit trade deal is being exploited, putting Britain in a weaker position.
Overall, our readers had a clear message for Prime Minister Keir Starmer: don’t trade away British laws and values for a quick economic boost. Many argued that any deal undermining protections, particularly for LGBT+ people and other minority groups, would be not only politically reckless but morally indefensible.
Here’s what you had to say:
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The UK will never capitulate
Vance's proposed "terms and conditions" regarding the tariff negotiations are a step too far. As a long-recognised democratically ruled country, the UK will never capitulate on our humane laws governing free speech, abortions, gay/transsexual/lesbian/bisexual rulings and the rights of our disabled community too.
I'm so grateful to live in a country that advocates freedom and fairness for all. Some sections of the community in the USA suffer so many hardships and indignities on account of the extreme right-wing views and attitudes emanating from Trump and his sidekicks. It's absolutely horrendous!
In the fullness of time, it may well be that the current discussions will never "bear fruit" and the UK will choose instead to sever commercial ties with the USA and trade with Europe and the rest of the world instead. I'll keep my fingers firmly crossed for this option!
JanetC
A breach of our sovereignty
The price the Trump administration is demanding to do a trade deal is surely too high. Telling us what laws our Parliament can or cannot pass is a breach of our sovereignty.
I wanted rid of the Tories, as many others did. But this government has become a big disappointment, even beyond what I expected. That is one reason why I did not vote Labour.
If Starmer and co sign up for US demands on free speech and other contentious matters, many others and I will be outraged. We need our government to stand up for us and our right to make our own laws. If it does not, then it is simply letting us all down.
49niner
This is not a free speech issue
Vance wants us to open the prison doors to people who incited rioters online to set fire to hotels full of human beings.
We have had a Riot Act since 1714. This is not a free speech issue.
He is also concerned that we allow no protests within 150 metres of abortion clinics. That is a decision of our Parliament. Our abortion laws are supported by 90 per cent of the British people. Again, this is not a free speech issue. They can protest all they like in the remaining 99.9999 per cent of the country. But they cannot intimidate people undergoing traumatic medical procedures, which are a confidential matter between them and their doctors.
Again, not a free speech issue.
We must not give way on this.
I won't even mention the rapidly growing limitations on free speech in the USA or the fact that I would certainly be denied entry if they searched my phone for unkind mentions of Trump.
SteveHill
Unbelievable
This is truly unbelievable. This is exactly why progressive politics are losing across the world.
No one is willing to defend our values. Instead, there’s always a full apology for laughable accusations. But in doing so, you confirm the myth that free speech, in the true sense, is under threat.
How dare the American Right attack the UK on free speech?
The US has banned any number of books, academics, journalists, influencers, protestors – anyone who speaks out. Scientists and researchers who publish climate reports have been suppressed. Academics banned from teaching. The list goes on.
Not only that, but Americans are attacking libraries here. Not a word was said.
Apart from all that, who are the Americans to interfere in our internal affairs?
Whatever the rights and wrongs of free speech in this country, the Americans would never accept us interfering in their internal affairs.
Jim987
Concentrate on the EU
Trying to do a trade deal with Trump's USA is a complete waste of time, in my opinion. Starmer should concentrate on the EU and make steps to rejoin – at least start by joining the customs union and single market.
I think that Starmer should put the country to a vote to rejoin the EU, and this time the Brexiters would lose – possibly handsomely as well.
The vote to rejoin the EU would, of course, be democratic, in the same way as the vote to leave was in 2016.
Getting rid of hate speech and accepting chlorinated chicken is not the way forward.
Christopher1959
Patriotism and xenophobia go hand in hand
When Parliament was recalled last Saturday for the debate on Scunthorpe, it reminded me of Hilary Benn’s rousing speech to Parliament, which had Emily Maitlis in tears, urging us to bomb Syria for the sake of our great nation and its democracy. As always, such appeals to patriotism invariably hide darker motives, and last Saturday, Parliament was unanimous in its condemnation of China, which, in my view, is being scapegoated for decades of government incompetence. Patriotism and xenophobia so often go hand in hand.
However, I suspect that UK politicians are completely unaware of the deep and widespread disgust felt by ordinary people in the UK at the actions of Trump and his cronies, which assail us daily. That the Labour Party, which I used to support, is even considering changes to the laws on tax and hate speech in response to Vance’s absurd right-wing ideological ranting is unforgivable.
The arrogant spin from Starmer is, “We know how to handle Trump” – he really doesn’t know what he’s doing.
He knows exactly what he’s doing. It’s called bullying. It’s degrading to us, and our government is rolling over. I will not vote Labour again as long as Starmer is leader.
Paddly
If you tolerate this...
To quote the Manic Street Preachers, "If you tolerate this, then your children will be next." Why should we allow the US to interfere in our national life, in the way our laws are created and implemented? Why should anyone in the UK feel that they can be intimidated by others because the law no longer protects them?
Hate speech can be used to incite violence; it can be used as a rallying cry for those with hatred in their hearts to enact that hatred. It doesn't support the far-right agenda, and that alone is why Vance is against it. And let us not forget the personal angle that Musk brings to this agenda because of his transgender daughter. Personally, I would make sure that we join the Customs Union and tell the US where to send its chlorinated chicken, steroid-filled beef, fruit juice with permitted maggots, and candies with banned colourants.
TigerMother
Brexit made us weaker
This is not entirely surprising. I had said before Brexit that leaving the EU didn't mean that we could suddenly just do whatever we want. It would mean sucking up to countries and regimes that may be dubious, because we would have to trade with them—but we would be the weaker partner outside the EU.
However, I didn't expect that the freedom to set our own laws would be so blatantly tested.
I would say it will be interesting to see how the anti-EU Reform and Tory-type voters react to this (other countries telling us, a sovereign nation, what laws we should have), but I imagine most of them will actually love it, as they don't really care about sovereignty—they just hate Europeans.
I hope Labour don't bow to this. If they do, I would say it's game over for them for 2029 (already).
Someone182
Free speech double standard
The issue I have with free speech is that if you criticise Trump negatively, then you're likely to be sent back to whatever country you came from when you try to visit America.
It happened to a few people this year: they had their phones confiscated and searched, and once the negative criticism they had against Trump was found, they were told to go back to the country they had travelled from. So basically, if you use free speech to attack someone else, then it's a-ok, but if it's to attack someone like Trump, then you're being hateful—even if you are using your right to free speech. Certain powerful people have made free speech a double standard.
PrinceYamiUchiha
The US doesn’t get to make our laws
We should tell Trump and Vance where to get off. I've no problem with us exploring a trade deal with the US, as long as it meets UK standards on aspects like food hygiene and digital safety. But the US government doesn't get to make our laws. We have our own legal system, with our own legal framework on equality, freedom of speech, and related issues such as libel, defamation, incitement, and hate speech. Those are non-negotiable and have zero relevance to a trade deal.
Intellectual conformity to Trump's crazy libertarian views isn't part of the package.
Tanaquil2
Trump is unstable
Just goes to show that Starmer is not even listening to the MPs, who have said a deal with the EU will be far better than a deal with the USA. It's a well-known fact that the USA wants the NHS, which would force everyone to pay for hospital treatment, just like in the USA.
Trump is unstable, and what's to say that if Starmer signs a trade deal, Trump won't go back on his word and hit the UK with higher tariffs?
Markcarlisle
Vance has no loyalty to Trump
Obviously, the UK Parliament will never agree to pass a Bill that changes our laws on the order of a foreign power. What most people are missing is who is making these statements. It is not the President, but the Vice President, who is voicing these demands. He has zero authority on any such matter. His only element of power is to break any tied vote in the US Senate.
He has constantly proven that he has no specific loyalty to President Trump, only to a specific extremist group within the Republican Party and to himself (in no fixed order). His comments to date on Canada, Greenland, Ukraine, trade, and Nato allies are not Republican Party policies, and are not reflected by the majority of Senators, Representatives, or party members.
All the VP’s comments are aimed solely at annoying others, muddying waters, dividing allies, and making US governance and policies more problematic – simply to further the longer-term aims of his extremist group. Trump is simply a vehicle for this purpose, and will likely be jettisoned at the appropriate time.
Jonathan Mills
Political suicide
If Starmer signs a trade deal anything close to what is being mooted, then he will be committing political suicide – and he could quite possibly take the Labour Party down with him. He should remember that he and the Labour Party are not, and have not been in the past few years, at all popular: 34 per cent of the vote and the votes of 20 per cent of the electorate is very, very unstable.
arboreal1
Vance has the upper hand
Many of the other comments are highly unrealistic in their assessment of the UK’s strength in the trade negotiations. The hard reality is that the UK, post-Brexit, desperately needs a trade deal with the US, not the other way around. So JD Vance has the upper hand in any negotiations and, I predict, will drive a very hard bargain indeed. We have to deal with reality as it is, not as we might like it to be.
Musil
Starmer should stall
Trump is negotiating from a position of extreme weakness. For him, the clock is ticking, and his numbers are getting worse and worse by the day.
Starmer’s smartest move would be to stall and delay, sign or agree to nothing, and not get bullied or intimidated. Every day that Starmer stalls and delays, his position strengthens.
The question is: is he smart enough to realise this, or will he be intimidated by all the noise?
HamishCrawford
UK should examine its own free speech issues
It’s a strange world when a government perceived as ultra-right wing and authoritarian by the corporate media lectures a so-called Labour Party on the need for freedom of speech and association. Perhaps instead of the knee-jerk condemnations of Trump and Vance, we should look closely at the UK’s laws and policing, and consider whether we, in attempting to protect certain communities, have overstepped the mark and silenced debate and discussion through draconian measures.
FaithofOurFathers
Let’s be grown-up about hate speech
I’m gay and never did get the hate speech thing. Threatening speech or behaviour, sure – but let’s be grown-up about someone calling you names. Although I do not think we should do it at the behest of Trump.
Morgan
Unrelated conditions
I thought a trade deal was a deal whereby one country says, “We'll take XYZ from you with or without tariffs,” and expects a reciprocal deal. What the US wants is to add certain other conditions completely unrelated to trade?
So I go to a shop to see the owner and tell them that I want to buy XXX, but first they must take down their sign above the door because I'm a signmaker and I should have had that job. When he refuses, I then sit outside the shop and refuse entry to other shoppers until further notice?
attilathenun
Pointless
A trade deal with Trump's America is pointless. No one there is going to rush out and buy British goods, especially since Trump’s tariffs will probably cause a recession in the States.
Peter Mandelson is no doubt involved in the trade deal discussions, making overly generous offers to the Yanks. If a trade deal is sorted –one which involves removing every other US firm in London from corporation tax – it will be an insult to most UK workers.
BenSouthwold
Wait...
"Mr Vance… is 'obsessed by the fall of Western civilisation'" and will demand that the Labour government roll back laws against hateful comments, including abuse targeting LGBT+ groups or other minorities, as a condition of any deal.
Wait – roll back the laws protecting people, minorities, and children from abuse in the digital and real world? Let’s all align with the US, where now hate toward people of non-MAGA mindset, any minority, and all who criticise Trump may face arrest, deportation, or worse – ignoring court orders? These neofascist laws?
Amsivarian
At odds with Western liberal democratic ideals
A deal with the Trump "administration" would be disastrous for the UK and for the government that signed it, on so many levels.
The Trump administration’s social, political, and environmental "policies" are at odds with Western liberal democratic ideals, and selling out those ideals for Chevies and chlorinated chicken won’t sit well with the British public or be remembered favourably.
This administration has taken the side of Russia, threatened to invade Greenland and Panama, picked fights with neighbours (one of which is a Commonwealth country), and started a disastrous trade war to enrich the president’s backers.
Sir Keir, please ensure your legacy – do the right thing and do not sell out for thirty pieces of silver.
FishingInTheRiverOfLife
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
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