The United States is “concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom”, the State Department warned in a statement, citing the arrest of a woman praying silently near an abortion clinic.
The United Kingdom government’s bid for a trade deal with the United States to sidestep the coming imposition of tariffs may fall apart over London’s failure to guarantee basic freedoms for the British people, it is reported, as the U.S. government openly raised concerns.
The U.S. State Department Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor Bureau published a statement on Sunday noting that while both countries “share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”, there are “concerns” about freedom of expression in the UK.
Citing the case of Livia Tossici-Bolt, a pro-life charity volunteer, the Bureau said one of its staff had met with Tossici-Bolt, and noted: “[she] faces criminal charges for offering conversation within a legally prohibited ‘buffer zone’ at an abortion clinic. We are monitoring her case. It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression.”
Tossici-Bolt is presently on trial for holding a sign reading “here to talk, if you want” while standing 55 yards from an abortion clinic in Bournemouth, England. She was charged with breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order and will hear the court’s verdict this Friday.
The Alliance Defending Freedom’s legal counsel, working for the defence of Tossici-Bolt, had previously said of the case:
Under far-reaching and vaguely-written rules, we have seen volunteers like Livia criminalised simply for offering to engage in consensual conversation; and others dragged through courts for praying, even silently, in their minds.
The principle of freedom of thought and speech must be defended both within and outside “buffer zones”. It’s unthinkable that as real crime is mounting, policing time and resources are being expended on peaceful individuals like Livia who simply, and peacefully, offer to speak. What kind of society does that?
The Bureau’s statement cited previous remarks by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who raised the alarm on democratic and freedom of expression backsliding in European countries. While his remarks were broadly addressed to all of Europe and warned that U.S. taxpayers would not be enthusiastic about continuing to underwrite the defence of a continent whose values were rapidly diverging from their own, the Vice President did refer to a handful of specific cases, one of them being criminalisation of pro-life prayer in the UK.
Vance reflected in his Munich speech: “In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat… Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope we can work together on that.”
That the United States government has publicly rebuked the United Kingdom in this way twice is remarkable enough, but it may now have serious knock-on effects on British government priorities. A major push from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a leftist who has nevertheless put a great deal of effort into forging a good working relationship with President Donald Trump, has been to get a trade deal signed with Washington, allowing the UK to avoid the coming tariffs from the American administration.
Yet, as reported by the Daily Telegraph, the U.S. may simply be unwilling to sign a trade deal with a Western country that punishes members of the public for thought crimes. The paper cites an unnamed source who claimed, “There will be no free trade without free speech.” A UK government spokesman later denied that freedom of speech standards had been part of negotiations so far.
The Tossici-Bolt court case is not the only one of its type that has been prosecuted in the United Kingdom of late. As reported by Breitbart News in February, a 74-year-old woman was charged for silently praying in Scotland. Last year, others, including an army veteran, were also arrested for silent prayer. In other cases, criminal data shows people charged under the 2023 Online Safety Act for speech-based offenses include 23 people for false communication, ‘fake news’ crimes.
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