Concerns over the state of free speech in Britain have been mounting, and one might expect it to still hold strong in local councils. Yet, recent events have proved otherwise.
A group of campaigners from Protect & Teach attended a Teignbridge District Council meeting in Devon several weeks ago, hoping to ask about the council’s policy permitting biological men to use female changing rooms and bathrooms.
But things took an unexpected turn. When one campaigner referenced trans-identified men as "men," the chair of the meeting, Cllr Rosie Dawson, interrupted her, citing the Equality Act 2010.
The implication was that stating men are men somehow breaches the law. Of course, this is absurd, as it would criminalise stating verifiable truth. We’re not at that stage yet.
The campaigner eventually got to her point, which was quite simple. Other legal experts have argued that allowing men into single-sex female spaces violates other laws. So she wanted to know if the council was considering that.
What succeeded this can only be described as blatant censorship. Other campaigners attempted to speak up but were also promptly shut down by Dawson. Each was supposed to have 3 minutes to ask their supplementary question. All were denied it. This eventually lead to some explosive arguments, which you have to see for yourself.
I’ve clipped all the noteworthy highlights, including the moment an attendee claims he has tourettes so he can call Dawes a “c***”.
Ultimately, the meeting reflects a troubling and childish trend spreading across certain councils in the country: the suppression of basic speech. Such actions will only fuel greater polarisation, deepen distrust, and further restrict public debate.
Note Dawson is a Liberal Democrat. She was elected in 2023 with just over 1,100 votes.
The painfully idle and silent Deputy Chair sat next to Dawson is Cllr Suzanne Saunders. She is also a Liberal Democrat who serves—if you can believe it—on the scrutiny committee for Teignbridge's 135,962 residents.
According to the Liberal Democrat's 'Constitution', they exist to build a "fair, free… society" that values "liberty" and opposes "ignorance and conformity".
Another mainstream political party whose representatives are openly hostile to the values they purport to hold dear, nooo… surely not.
Do you think if things stay the way they are our best days are ahead of us?
Are you going to sit down and watch as our media/government officials push for yet more invasive, authoritarian, censorious policy?
If you want to do something today to help change that, you can opt for a paid subscription and help citizen journalists like me attempting to stop it…
The Ugly, Underreported Face of Local Politics in England