Harry Miller’s ‘transphobic tweets’ victory is a win for free speech

Court decisions don’t often call for three cheers, but today’s Court of Appeal determination in the Harry Miller case is an exception. Essentially the judges have told the police to rewrite the rules on recording what they see as hate incidents. 

However technical this looks, this is actually an enormous blow in favour of the freedom of ordinary people to say what they want. It is also an admirable Christmas present for anyone seriously concerned with protecting free speech, not to mention a high-profile triumph for the Free Speech Union, who stood squarely behind the appeal. Fighting cases like this needs moral and financial support: and in tandem with Fair Cop, the FSU has very commendably provided both.

In case you’ve forgotten the background, a guidance document issued to all police forces says the following: if someone says something which anyone else sees as embodying hostility based on race, religion, transgenderism or a number of other characteristics, then even if no crime whatever is indicated, police must record it as a so-called ‘non-crime hate incident’ (or NCHI).