The Free Speech Union (FSU) has slammed Thanet District Council over their “ridiculous” and “unlawful” ban of swearing in public.
Lord Toby Young told GB News that the FSU is warning councils “up and down” England that they are being “more and more promiscuous” by imposing these “absurd” bans.
The FSU has said on Monday they are planning to legally challenge this and Lord Young warned that the council risks wasting “large sums of taxpayers’ money” if they fight back.
Lord Young told GB News: “Thanet District Council passed this new Public Space Protection Order, and several of the Labour councillors, including the leader, were very scathing and rude about the Free Speech Union. They tried to pass a very similar ban last year, we threatened them with legal action and they abandoned the attempt.
“They’re now trying it again, but they were very scathing, saying they weren’t scared of us, said that if I came down to Margate, they would give me a piece of their mind, so I decided to take them up on the challenge. I went to Margate last Tuesday hoping to meet with the leader of the council, and he was nowhere to be seen, he didn’t want to debate their swearing ban.
Lord young highlighted that the council was also going to ban the “excretion of bodily fluids in public,” meaning no sneezing in public, coughing, crying or breast feeding, urinating in the street the FSU does support all councils to ban this.
He continued, “It’s not just swearing they’re trying to ban, at one point they wanted to ban the excretion of bodily fluids in public, which would have made it a crime to breastfeed or to sneeze in public.
“They really haven’t thought this through and they’ve now dropped that part, but they still want to make it a crime punishable by a £100 fine to use foul or abusive language.
They’re going to employ enforcement officers from a local private security company to go around finding people. And if you stub your toe in Margate or Ramsgate or Broadstairs, chances are a man in a hi-vis vest will tap on your shoulder and demand £100.
“It’s completely ridiculous, we don’t think it’s lawful.”
He added, “Councils up and down the country are becoming more and more promiscuous about imposing these absurd bans, criminalising various forms of speech.
“We’re now going to take them to court. We’re going to say, I’m sorry, you can’t do this, it’s unlawful, and it clashes with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of speech. Get back in your box.”
Lord young said the council will now “waste tens of thousands” if not “hundreds of thousands of local taxpayer’s money” only to lose at the end of this process.
He said that the wording is “so imprecise, it’s so candidly worded, they want to make it unlawful to use foul or abusive language, and those terms have no legal meaning in English common law.”
A Thanet District Council spokesman said: “The amendments are points of clarification around the language and terminology used and do not change the substance of the order in any way. The clarifications follow feedback from the FSU, which has indicated in a letter to the council on July 31 that it intends to legally challenge the council’s PSPO.
The council received overwhelming support for the proposed PSPO in response to its public consultation. The council feels the changes proposed provide the clarification required.”
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