“For Creasy, free speech means state-regulated speech. Only people with approved views can speak, and anyone who steps out of line must be silenced and, if necessary, punished. Think it’s ridiculous to suggest that a person with a penis is a woman? In Creasy’s world, where we must ‘recognise various identities’, you must either self-censor and keep schtum or face changes to the law designed to shut you up.
This week, Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, waded into the free speech debate at a fringe event at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, bringing her familiar brand of student politics with her.
Creasy told the audience that free speech must be curtailed when it “stops somebody else’s view from being heard”. She elaborated, saying we should recognise “the impact and the context in which people have conversation and debate”.
What she is saying, essentially, is that because everyone has a different identity and unique personal circumstances, free speech is impossible without state regulation. Creasy believes we must tackle “the barriers that stop people being heard at all”.
This is absurd. Freedom of speech is a fundamental pillar of any self-respecting democracy. It is non-negotiable and, most importantly, a universal right.
Fortunately, Jonathan Hinder, the Labour MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, was at the event to restore some common sense. “If you don’t believe in free speech for your opponents, you don’t believe in free speech,” he said.
As Joanna Williams points out, Stella appears as hopeless at understanding free speech as she is at distinguishing between parrots and parakeets.
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