According to reports in The Independent, Donald Trump’s administration is demanding that the United Kingdom abolish the law on incitement to racial hatred as a condition for the conclusion of a new trade agreement between the two countries.
The demand, which is linked to Vice President JD Vance’s view of freedom of expression as fundamental to democracy, has reportedly met with resistance from the UK government.
An anonymous source close to the US administration told The Independent that Trump is “obsessed by the fall of Western civilisation” and that the president is deeply concerned that free speech is being undermined in the UK.
The source claims that the White House wants the Labour government to withdraw hate speech laws, including those targeting LGBTQ groups or various ethnic minorities, in order for a deal to be reached.
– No free speech, no deal. It is as simple as that, the source told the newspaper.
Britons arrested for social media posts
Vance, who is leading the negotiations from the US side, has previously expressed optimism about a new agreement:
– I think there’s a good chance that, yes, we’ll come to a great agreement that’s in the best interest of both countries, he said in an interview with UnHerd.
The UK authorities’ crackdown on ‘opinion criminals’ has long been seen as a major problem by people close to Trump.
The president’s adviser, Elon Musk, has been one of the most vocal critics and has repeatedly highlighted the fact that British authorities arrest people for posts they make on social media.
During Keir Starmer’s first visit to the White House, Vance also warned that freedom of expression was under attack, pointing to how US tech companies are being forced into unacceptable censorship by new European laws introduced under the pretext of protecting citizens from “cyber hate”.
An elite afraid of its own people
The Nordic Times has previously reported how Vance during the security conference in Munich also attacked the European establishment politicians.
– I look to Brussels, where EU commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they’ve judged to be, quote, “hateful content”
Mr. Vance also touched on Sweden’s verdict against the murdered Iraqi Quran burner Salwan Momika’s colleague who was convicted of participating in the actions.
– As the judge in his case chillingly noted, Sweden’s laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, grant, and I’m quoting, ‘a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief’.
