Freedom of Speech in the UK is Very Much Under Threat

Sara Spencer's experience serves as counterevidence to Keir Starmer’s claims, as her career was nearly ended over a legally-protected pro-life post.

by Sara Spencer
March 8, 2025

Three weeks ago, Vice President J.D. Vance gave a landmark address about free speech in Europe, and Britain in particular. Last week, when Keir Starmer visited Washington, DC, Vance raised his concerns more directly with the prime minister about “infringements on free speech… that affect American technology companies and by extension American citizens.”

Starmer was quick to dismiss the critique, insisting that:

We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and will last for a very long time… certainly, we wouldn’t reach across US citizens and we don’t and that’s absolutely right.

Starmer is mistaken, and I can say that with confidence as a US citizen living in the United Kingdom, where my freedom of speech has been compromised. I moved to Scotland from Southern California, aged twenty-two. After several years spent caring full-time for my three small children, I enthusiastically enrolled in a midwifery course at Edinburgh Napier Univer…