The State Department – the US equivalent of the Foreign Office – said on Sunday night that it was “concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom”, citing a specific court case on abortion centre buffer zones.
It is unusual for the US to comment on the domestic affairs of another country – and even more unusual for it to stipulate this as part of a trade deal.
So could this jeopardise the all-important negotiations?
US backs anti-abortion campaigner
The State Department on Monday night threw its weight behind an anti-abortion campaigner being taken to court for allegedly breaking buffer zone laws.
It revealed that a senior official had met with Livia Tossici-Bolt – a British woman who was prosecuted for allegedly breaching a buffer zone when she held a sign near a Bournemouth abortion clinic reading “here to talk if you want” – and is “monitoring her case”.
The verdict will be given on Friday. Tossici-Bolt denies any wrongdoing.
“It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression,” the Department wrote on X.
Dr Livia Tossici-Bolt is being prosecuted for the alleged breach of a “buffer zone” outside a Bournemouth abortion clinic. (Photo: ADF International/PA Wire)A new law introduced last year introduced a buffer zone in a 150m radius of an abortion centre.
It is now a criminal offence to influence any person’s decision to access or facilitate abortion services at an abortion clinic, obstruct access or cause harassment, alarm or distress to someone using the site.
Tossici-Bolt said she is “grateful to the US State Department for taking note of my case”, adding that the UK is “supposed to be a free country.”
Abortion rights in the US have been dramatically rowed back in recent years, after Roe v Wade – a landmark court case which ruled that the right to an abortion was enshrined in the constitution – was reversed, allowing states to make their own decisions on abortion access.
Since then, many states have criminalised the procedure or dramatically narrowed the circumstances in which it is legal.
It isn’t the only issue the US has with free speech in the UK. The Trump administration reportedly dislikes the Online Safety Act because it can be used to levy fines on American tech firms for failing to regulate what is shared on their platforms.
A source familiar with trade negotiations told The Telegraph that the issue had come up during talks and the US had made it clear there should be “no free trade without free speech”.
Dr Jonny Hall, a US politics expert at the London School of Economics, said that while it was not common for the US to comment on domestic affairs of allies, there was precedent, including President Barack Obama’s warning to the UK that leaving the EU would put the UK “at the back of the queue”, Trump’s disagreements with Theresa May over Brexit and later with Boris Johnson over Huawei, and Biden’s repeated warnings over the Northern Ireland Protocol during the same administration.
“To this Trump administration, this abortion case is likely deemed important as it intersects with the type of ‘culture wars’ that have proved to play a vital role in Trump’s campaign and mode of governing.
David Andersen, a US politics expert at Durham University, said it was “perhaps unprecedented” to threaten a trade relationship with a strong ally over a “relatively trivial” domestic issue.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has sought to downplay the issue, saying that free speech has not been part of tariff negotiations with the US.
Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds arrives at Downing Street for the weekly Cabinet meeting (Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Comments ‘could set back free speech in the UK’
Maxwell Marlow, Director of Public Affairs at the Adam Smith Institute which advocates for free trade and has drafted a Free Speech Act for the UK, said that while British free speech needed to improve, the US’s approach might actually set it back.
Two parents said they were arrested and held at a police station for 11 hours because they complained about their daughter’s primary school.
Police later decided to take no further action citing insufficient evidence.
A US-UK trade deal has been back in the spotlight as Downing Street attempts to avoid being hit with large US tariffs, which have been imposed on a range of countries in recent weeks.
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