Restore Britain's policy on free speech and civil liberties

The objective says a Restore Britain government would put free speech on a strong statutory footing, guaranteeing that lawful expression cannot be criminalised or censored, either by the state or by private platforms. This would be paired with what it calls a “thoroughgoing attack” on existing laws that restrict speech: those laws would be repealed and new ones passed in their place.

The objective does not list which statutes would go. The one law the party has so far named for full repeal is the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which Retaking the English Castle (opens in a new tab) says Westminster should strike down using its powers under the Scotland Act 1998. The paper objects in particular that the Scottish Parliament rejected a “dwelling defence”, so the offence of stirring up hatred can apply to things said inside the home.

Restore Britain would repeal the Online Safety Act. The party argues that the Act threatens investigative journalism, whistleblowing and political debate, and that fear of liability pushes platforms to over-moderate, driving smaller companies out of the market and strengthening the largest tech firms.

Instead, platforms hosting lawful content would be shielded from government pressure to censor it. The party would require transparency in content moderation and prohibit state-directed takedowns of legal speech. It also says any VPN ban introduced by the Labour government would be reversed immediately.

The Restoring British Policing (opens in a new tab) paper would restrict the recording of non-crime incidents to clearly defined operational needs, such as credible risk, safeguarding, evidence of a pattern or investigative value. It would remove “contested ideological terminology” from police training and guidance, require neutral language in police communications and bring in a single Equality Before the Law and Impartial Policing Standard. More detail is on the law and order page.

The English Castle paper also proposes keeping jury trials, arguing that juries of ordinary citizens protect defendants in cases involving speech as well as self-defence.

The party would pass laws to prevent compulsory digital ID. It argues that digital ID is the policy of a “low-trust, fragmented society”, gives the state too much involvement in people's daily lives and could open the door to wider surveillance, a social credit system or a central bank digital currency. It rejects the case that digital ID is needed to tackle illegal immigration, saying that problem should be dealt with at source.

A Restore Britain government would quash convictions for non-violent breaches of lockdown rules, such as leaving home, attending protests or running a business, and make targeted changes to emergency powers legislation to render future lockdowns “near-impossible”. The party says young people deserve compensation “in some form” and calls for an independent review of the SAGE predictions and data used to justify lockdowns, with unredacted access to the modelling and communications.

The party would also set up an independent inquiry into the safety, rollout and long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccines, overhaul the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme with higher payouts and faster claims, and publish the communications that led to the vaccine rollout and vaccine passports.