WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter
Whose Free Speech?
Dear HIP
Helena Dollimore MP and Grumpy Cook owner Barry Ashley are right to criticise the Reform-run East Sussex County Council (ESCC) for ending holiday meal vouchers for some of the poorest families in East Sussex (Reform in Reverse, HIP 308).
Moreover, ESCC’s leader, Andy Woolley, has made himself a laughing stock by threatening to report them both to the police for this criticism.
However, Ms Dollimore’s attempt to chide Reform for its hypocrisy on free speech (“I know that Reform UK includes ‘defence of free speech’ as amongst its policies”) is a case of the kettle calling the pot black.
After all, it was only last year that Ms Dollimore joined Nigel Farage and Andy Burnham to proscribe the nonviolent protest group Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act, thereby introducing severe restrictions on the free speech of everyone in the UK. For example, there is now only one legally permissible answer to the question “Do you support Palestine Action?”
As you yourselves report, two local pensioners are now facing a possible 14-year jail sentence for uttering an entirely innocuous 12-word sentence in public.
If Ms Dollimore has really had a Damascene conversion to the cause of free speech, then this should be welcomed. But if that’s the case, then her next step must be to publicly renounce her decision to ban Palestine Action and to call on Andy Burnham’s government to reverse this appalling decision.
Gabriel Carlyle
We would love to hear from you.
[email protected]
facebook.com/hastingsindependent
instagram.com/hastingsindependent
Please be aware we may need to edit letters for reasons of space and we will only withhold names if this is necessary for the protection of the writer
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Gabriel Carlyle has critisised our MP, Helena Dollimore, for “her” policy on Israel and Gaza. But an MP to observe party policy and the Labour manifesto, and to support the leader and Prime Minister, is not a matter of her individual position. I suggest it is a waste of energy and time to bombard Helena with criticism for “her” policy on whatever Mr Carlyle is campaigning on at the time. Save your breath and your energy for campaigning against government policy, by all means – I may well join you. Better still, campaign (with others) against the Israeli regime’s actions. One-man campaigns against another individual never look that convincing.