Over 60,000 people have been arrested for communication offences over 5 years and failed laws mean some police forces make 14 times more arrests than others, a damning new report by Big Brother Watch reveals. The civil liberties campaign group are calling on the Prime Minister to launch a free speech reset warning that the Government must review laws to fix this “Orwellian mess.” The group’s director Silkie Carlo said:
“There is mounting concern among the public that speech policing is out of control in Britain and it’s long overdue that the government takes action.
Andy Burnham must now launch a free speech reset and order an independent review of our laws and police training around speech, in order to fix this Orwellian mess.
Thousands of people are being arrested for controversial speech, online jokes and non-violent protest. People have even been arrested for holding blank pieces of paper, and urged to take ‘online thinking skills’ courses by police. Enough is enough.”
