‘Cancel culture’ threatens free speech at universities – MP

Veteran Conservative MP David Davis introduced a private member’s bill in parliament in the United Kingdom which would put a duty on universities to “promote freedom of speech”, with institutions which failed to comply liable to fines, writes Will Hazell for iNews.

Davis said that free speech was “under threat in the very institutions where it should be most treasured – our universities”. He said that “freedom of speech only matters when it’s controversial, when it’s challenging … Today the cancel culture movement think that it is reasonable to obliterate the views of people they disagree with, rather than challenging them in open debate.”

Davis referred to a number of high-profile cases in which public figures had been “no platformed” – or threatened with it – at universities, including the former home secretary Amber Rudd, the feminist Germaine Greer, the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and the columnist Peter Hitchens. He said that an “unwillingness to hear uncomfortable opinion” and “the refusal of platforms to people you disagree with is damaging to us all”.
Full report on the iNews site