Britons Believe They Can No Longer Speak Their Minds, Poll Finds

Britons believe they can no longer speak their minds, a poll has found, in the latest indicator of a free speech crisis in the UK, as nearly half of Britons say people are too easily offended. The Telegraph has more.

Free speech is under threat because Britons feel they cannot speak out for fear of offending others over race, religion and immigration, a study has found.

Nearly half of those polled (49%) believe people are too easily offended, particularly if they speak out on race and immigration issues, according to research for the Commission for Countering Extremism, which advises the Government.

The more outspoken people’s views, the more likely they were to feel constrained by the risk of offending others. Older, white males without a university education are among the groups who feel the most restricted.

The study, based on interviews with 2,500 people, was conducted by Ipsos to establish the state of free speech in Britain.

It follows controversies such as the 2021 protests against a teacher in Batley, West Yorkshire, who received death threats and went into hiding after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed from Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, during a religious studies lesson.

Similar concerns over the right to freedom of expression and protest have been raised in the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas terror attack on Israel and the ensuing Gaza conflict.

More than a third (36%) felt they had to hold back on expressing their views on race or ethnicity, while 32% said they did not feel they could freely speak out on immigration or religious extremism. On asylum and Gaza, 31% felt constrained, rising to 41% for transgender issues.

Groups that were predominantly white, male, older and non-graduate were more strongly in favour of free speech, regardless of the issue, but at the same time felt more constrained in their ability to freely share their views about most topics.

Nearly half of this group (48%) said they felt they had to restrain their comments on race, far higher than the average of 36%. The same was true on immigration, where 43% felt they had to hold back on their views compared to an overall average among the public of 32% who felt constrained.

Christians were more likely to back the right to free speech, but also more likely than average to feel they had to hold back on expressing their views.

Conversely, women, younger Britons and people from ethnic minorities or non-Christian religions tended to think that people needed to be more sensitive in the way they spoke.

Just under a third (29%) of all those polled agreed that people needed to be more sensitive. But this rose to 34% amongst women, 45% from ethnic minorities and 45% for non-Christians.

By contrast, men, people aged over 65 and those from white ethnicities and Christians were more likely to think that people are too easily offended.

While on average 49% felt people were too easily offended, this rose to 56% of men, 54% of those from a white ethnicity and 59% for Christians. These were nearly double the rates for people from ethnic minorities and non-Christians.

Worth reading in full.