A month after the Magna-Carta-mangling Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill crept onto the statue book, leaked documents seen by the Daily Telegraph over the weekend reveal Home Office proposals which are likely to have significant, if apparently unintended, consequences for free speech in this country.
I haven’t seen the full strategy papers myself, and nor will you. They have been deemed too ‘sensitive’ ever to face public scrutiny, and only a two-page executive summary is due to be published. At this stage, it is worth considering the few choice quotes the Telegraph have dutifully passed on.
The leaked papers make some confident claims about ‘British values’, with citizenship and even temporary visa applicants required to ‘prove adherence to British values and participation in society’. It isn’t exactly clear which values they’re talking about, but I’m guessing intellectual freedom and open debate aren’t among them.
The document then goes onto claim that ‘in the past there has been a risk that the government sends an ambivalent and dangerous message – that it doesn’t really matter if you don’t believe in democracy’.
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