Sources close to Vice President JD Vance say UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Starmer will need to repeal hate speech laws that protect LGBTQ people in order to get a trade deal with the Trump administration. Apparently, Vance sees hate speech laws as “anti-free speech.”
Starmer told UK must repeal hate speech laws to protect LGBT+ people or lose Trump trade deal [image or embed]
— The Independent (@the-independent.com) April 16, 2025 at 1:42 AM
From The Independent:
Allies of the vice-president say he is “obsessed by the fall of Western civilization” – including his view that free speech is being eroded in Britain – and that he will demand the Labour government rolls back laws against hateful comments, including abuse targeting LGBT+ groups or other minorities, as a condition of any deal.
“No free speech, no deal. It is as simple as that,” the source close to the vice-president said.
It is understood that Britain has already offered to drop its proposed digital services tax as a means of getting a trade deal through. But the US wants to see laws on hate speech repealed as well as plans for a new online safety law dropped.
Labour has made it clear it is not prepared to go that far. A Downing Street source said the subject “is not a feature of the talks.”
Read more here. 
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