Farage: Free speech under threat from Government’s extremism definition

The Reform party president says the guidelines to identify high-risk fringe groups could be used to shut down legitimate debate

Nigel Farage has warned the Government’s new extremism definition could “shut down” free speech.
The Reform party co-founder said he feared that the definition could be abused by Governments to shut down debate on issues that they did not like.
The new definition was unveiled this week by Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, as he named five groups – three Muslim and two far-Right – which will be investigated as potentially extremism organisations.
The new tighter definition of non-violent extremism will be used by civil servants and academics to identify and publish a list of both Islamist and far-Right groups.
Officials will be instructed to cut off all central Government funding and block all meetings with any of the groups that meet the definition to ensure it is not inadvertently giving them a “platform or legitimacy to advance extremist ideologies”.
Mr Farage said: “My concern is this could be open to abuse … If you attempt to ‘undermine, overturn or replace the UK system of liberal parliamentary democracy’, you could be branded an extremist.
“My concern with all of this is that I think it has the potential to be abused by governments that want to shut down debate on issues that they don’t like.”
He added: “We were told the new definition would be less woolly and yet, from what I can see, it is completely and utterly open-ended.
“I am sure that everybody on all sides of the political debate will argue that they are being victimised but I think this is open, genuinely, to a shutting down of free speech, maybe not by this government but who knows what may come in the course of the following years.”
Announcing the plans in the Commons on Thursday, Mr Gove insisted the crackdown was not intended to restrict freedom of expression, religion or belief and would not affect other potentially controversial groups.
“Our definition will not affect gender-critical campaigners, those with conservative religious beliefs, trans activists, environmental protest groups or those exercising their proper right to free speech,” he said.
The definition aims to include conduct that falls short of criminality but is deemed “unacceptable”. It will be initially targeted at groups but may be extended to individuals.
It describes extremism as “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance” that aims to “negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others” or “undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights”. It also includes those who “intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve” either of those aims.
In the Commons, Mr Gove faced a backlash from Tory MPs concerned about its impact on free speech. Miriam Cates, the Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said the definition’s inclusion of groups that promote hatred or intolerance risked encompassing people with legitimate views.
She said: “If we separate the legal definition of extremism from violence and harm, we risk criminalising people who hold perfectly legitimate views. In a pluralistic democracy there are, of course, a wide range of opinions that many of us would consider ‘extreme’.
“But the state should only intervene if there is an actual threat of physical harm. Otherwise, we erode our fundamental freedoms of speech, association, expression and religion.”
Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, warned it risked landing in “no-man’s land: not going far enough to tackle the real extremists, not doing enough to protect the non-extremists”.
He urged Mr Gove to press ahead with the implementation of a tougher reformed version of the Prevent counter-terror programme, revoke the visas of foreign visitors who supported extremism and ensure police “vigorously and fairly” enforced existing laws.