Press Release: May's crackdown on hate preachers threatens free speech for all

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Head of Communications Kate Andrews: kate@adamsmith.org | 07584 778207

Commenting on the Government's pledge to crack down on hate preachers, Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute Sam Bowman said:

The right to free speech cannot be conditional on what is being said. ‘Hate preachers’ may be bad people but unless they are making direct threats or incitements to violence - which we already have laws against - their ideas must be given the full protection of the law. That includes preaching intolerance. Anything less gives the state the power to pick and choose the ideas British citizens can express.

The details of these proposals are particularly concerning – people accused of hate preaching will be banned from speaking in public or using Twitter or Facebook.

These measures are almost certain to be abused as well – stop-and-search laws originally justified on anti-terror grounds are now mostly used to stop conventional crimes, and in 2008 it emerged that half of local councils had been using anti-terror laws to snoop on people who put their rubbish out on the wrong day.

We should hold these ideas up to scrutiny and challenge them in public debate, not push them into the shadows. With these measures Theresa May has crossed a line – if she pushes ahead, significant liberties will be lost.

Notes to editors:

The Adam Smith Institute is a free market, libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

Is John Whittingdale's appointment bad news for the BBC? - Sam Bowman argues YES in CityAM

Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute Sam Bowman argued that the appointment of John Whittingdale as culture secretary could be bad news for the BBC in the CityAM debate:

John Whittingdale has described the licence fee as being “worse than a poll tax,” and wants to decriminalise non-payment. That is a good idea: 10 per cent of magistrate court cases are for licence fee non-payment. Every week that means 3,000 people are fined and one person is jailed. Women make up about 70 per cent of convictions and half of those jailed. The BBC was never meant to be the £5bn behemoth that it has grown into. If there is any case for a mandatory public broadcaster at all, it is for one that produces worthy content that the market would not provide otherwise. But most of its budget goes on things like Doctor Who and The Voice, which the private sector would produce if the Beeb wasn’t. The BBC needs to be cut down to size, and the new culture secretary might be the man to do it. Whittingdale is bad news for the BBC – and that’s good news for the rest of us.

Read the full article here.

Dr Eamonn Butler debunks 9 of the Left's economic myths put forward during the election in The Sun

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The ASI's Dr Eamonn Butler has featured in The Sun one day out from the election debunking nine of Labour's pledges and arguments; topics include zero-hours contracts, inequality, tax rates, cuts to welfare, the NHS, poverty, government spending, the proposed mansion tax and university tuition fees.

Kate Andrews calls for NHS reform on BBC Points West

Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute Kate Andrews argues that the NHS is in need of serious reform that emulate European health systems like Switzerland and Germany on BBC Points West. (Starts 1:30)

Speaker's Corner: Election Special - Sam Bowman writes for Hunger TV

Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute Sam Bowman gave his analysis of misguided political consensus leading up to the General Election to Hunger TV:

It hasn’t exactly been the most thrilling election – the main parties seem to agree on more than they disagree on. That’s understandable, but here are three areas where the political consensus might be amazingly wrong:

Read the full article here.

Dr Eamonn Butler is quoted on Adam Smith and the 21st century in The Scotsman

Director of the Adam Smith Institute Dr Eamonn Butler responds to Edinburgh Makar Christine De Luca's poem about Adam Smith in The Scotsman.

Dr Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, said of the poem: “It’s a nice, sympathetic portrait of Adam Smith, but the economics aren’t quite right. Globalisation is nothing new – Smith himself in 1776 pointed out that even the ‘rough woollen coat’ of a ‘day-labourer’ involved the labour of thousands of people, across many continents. And are we missing the Invisible Hand by which our self-interested market transactions actually produce mutual benefit? A little, but only because markets are being distorted by politicians who mistakenly think they can do better. But the best laid schemes o’ rodents and ­rulers gang aft agley.”

Read the full article here.

Kate Andrews argues against compulsory voting on BBC World Service

Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute Kate Andrews took part in a debate about compulsory voting on BBC World Service News Hour, arguing that in a free society the right to vote includes the right not to vote. Listen to the full interview here. (Starts 36:44)

Author of "The Green Noose" features in The Economist's documentary on Britain's housing crisis

The Economist's new documentary on Britain's housing crisis "A home of one's own" has featured ASI Senior Fellow and author of ASI paper The Green Noose: An analysis of Green Belts and proposals for reform, Tom Papworth:

The ASI report, The Green Noose: An analysis of Green Belts and proposals for reform, looks at the Green Belt’s impact on England’s housing shortage. After a comprehensive review of the causes of the housing crisis, it concludes that the planning structure is out of date and in need of radical reform.

The ASI's criticism of Labour's pledge to cap rents features in The Daily Mail and The Sun Online

Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute Sam Bowman was quoted in The Daily Mail and The Sun Online criticising Labour's pledge to cap rents from rising above-inflation for the next three years.

From The Daily Mail:

Sam Bowman, of the Adam Smith Institute think-tank, said rent controls were ‘a stunningly bad idea that could clobber renters’.

He said they would give landlords a huge incentive to raise rents at the start of a tenancy, adding: ‘Labour has unwittingly announced a policy that could devastate cities and exacerbate the housing crisis.’

Read the full article here.

From The Sun Online: 

But experts lined up to savage the left-wing idea, claiming it will devastate the rental market and could even lead to higher charges for tenants.

Sam Bowman, of think tank the Adam Smith Institute, said: “Labour has unwittingly announced a policy that could devastate Britain’s cities and exacerbate the housing crisis."

Read the full article here.

The ASI's criticism of Labour’s pledge to cap rents features in The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post

Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Institute Sam Bowman was quoted in The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post criticising Labour’s pledge to cap rents from rising above-inflation for the next three years. From The Scotsman:

Think-Tank hits out at Labour rent caps

Labour leader Ed Miliband’s pledge to cap above-inflation rent rises for three years if elected is a “stunningly bad” idea that could hurt those it is meant to help, a free market think-tank said yesterday.

The Adam Smith Institute said it would “shift risk from landlords to tenants” because it encouraged landlords to “price in” rent rises at the beginning of the tenancy.

Deputy director of the institute Sam Bowman said: “Labour has unwittingly announced a policy that could devastate Britain’s cities and exacerbate the housing crisis."

From the Yorkshire Post:

But introducing rent control was called “a stunningly bad idea that could clobber renters” and “devastate” cities, by the free-market Adam Smith Institute think tank.

Read the full article here.