Free Speech in the UK: what does the law actually say?

So reads the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Here in the UK we don’t have a specific declaration of the freedom of speech in quite the same way, but the right to speak freely comes through a number of different laws that have been passed, or revised, over recent years. The two main pieces of legislation are the Human Rights Act of 1998 and the Public Order Act, revised in 2023. The Online Safety Act and Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act also contain legislation concerning the right to free speech.

Article 19 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights made ‘freedom of expression’ a fundamental human right in 1948. Freedom of expression is the right to express ideas, opinions and information, as well the right to receive such things. This right was then codified in article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in 1950. This was put into law in the UK as part of the 1998 Human Rights Act. The Act states:

In essence, Article 10 gives each person the right to hold their own opinions and to express those opinions, both aloud (in discussion and in protest) and in written, broadcast or artistic forms.

The right to freedom of expression, however, is not an unrestricted right. There are legal limits which are identified in the second part of Article 10:

The categories of restrictions are broad, but any limits on freedom of speech need to be lawful, necessary and proportionate.

The Public Order Act is in many ways the practical application of the right to freedom of speech. It outlines those areas where freedom of speech may be restricted for the maintaining of public order. The main body of the Act was passed in 1986, with additions in 2023 to include new offences and to give police greater powers.

A person who uses “threatening or abusive words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening or abusive within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress” would be guilty of an offence under the Public Order Act. A strict version of this law applies if the person intends their words or behaviour to be abusive or harmful, or is aware that it could be taken that way, which could lead to a prison term. A lesser offence carrying a fine rather than a potential prison term, applies even if there wasn’t intent to cause harm.

The Act also states that a person exercising freedom of speech is causing an offence “if he intends thereby to stir up religious hatred or hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation”.

Once again, the wording of the Act is broad and could be interpreted in a variety of ways. The Act specifically highlights that nothing in the law should be interpreted as restricting discussion, criticism or disagreement with the beliefs and practices of another. When it comes to sexuality, it states that “the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.”

Used wisely the Public Order Act does not restrict freedom of speech for Christians. However some have raised concerns about the increased powers given by the revised Act in 2023. These give police much more power to prevent protests – including protests of only one person. These laws could be used well to combat violent or problematic protests from a small minority of groups. But in the wrong hands, it could be used to stifle legitimate protests.

Additionally, the Public Order Act defines an offence not just when speech causes harm, but when it is deemed that the speech is likely to cause harm. This puts a great deal of responsibility for interpretation on the police and could be used to silence legitimate discussion and disagreement.

The Online Safety Act contains a number of measures that apply the restrictions to free speech to online forms of communication. Its intent is to balance safety of online services with the protection of freedom of expression.

The majority of the Act concerns online pornography and restrictions to ensure that children are kept safe from pornographic content. However, the Act also contains offences that involve communication.

The Act introduces an offence of false communication, where a person uses online platforms to communicate a message that is known to be false, and an offence of threatening communication, where a person conveys a threat of death or serious harm. The Online Safety Act also prohibits communications that encourage or assist in self-harm, and the unsolicited sharing of sexually explicit material.

The Online Safety Act also covers online communication that could be deemed harmful to others (particularly children). This kind of content targets a person’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability, or could incite hatred against people for those characteristics. This part of the Act seeks to stop so-called ‘hate speech’.

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act came into effect in August 2025. This Act aims to protect freedom of speech in colleges and universities, allowing them to be places where robust discussion can occur without fear of prosecution or censorship.

The law states that a higher education provider has freedom in the law “to question and test received wisdom, and to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions, without placing themselves at risk”. It also restricts the use of non-disclosure agreements to silence people who have complained about bullying, harassment, abuse or sexual misconduct in those institutions.

Both the Human Rights Act and the Online Safety Act apply to the whole of the UK, but only some aspects of the Public Order Act apply in Scotland, most notably the offences regarding speech that is likely to cause harm. Scotland has its own Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act which was passed in 2021 and came into effect in 2024.

This Act introduces the offence of ‘stirring up hatred’ which criminalises communication that is intended to stir up hatred of any group because of disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

The Public Order Act does not apply to Northern Ireland, but instead there is The Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987. Much like the legislation for the rest of the UK, the Order criminalises threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour which is likely to stir up hatred based on race, religion, disability or sexual orientation.

While the UK does not have freedom of speech enshrined in a constitution as the United States does, there are significant laws protecting free speech. We can be thankful that, as Christians, we have freedom to meet and worship, freedom to speak about Jesus, and freedom to respectfully debate and disagree with other viewpoints.

Freedom of speech, however, depends on the government implementing the laws and directing the policing of them. We need to pray, and use our political influence, to ensure that the government in the UK uses the existing laws in a fair and honest fashion, and continues to allow Christians freedom to proclaim the good news about Jesus.