We will not be silenced, vow peers who were labelled ‘bigots’ for speaking out over trans prisoners
by Hayley Dixon, Telegraph:
Lords standards commissioner accused of ‘sinister’ threat to parliamentary freedom of speech after dismissing complaints on a ‘technicality’.
The peers were not told who had made the complaint, but they were labelled “transphobes” and “bigots” by activists on social media before the amendment was withdrawn.
Lord Cormack has now revealed that the four of them received letters from the standards commissioner to tell them he had “dismissed the complaints on a technicality – the grounds that they were third-party complaints and therefore not permissible.
Parliamentary privilege a ‘bulwark of democracy’
He told the upper chamber: “The four of us have written to the commissioner because we are deeply concerned by the implications of this decision, as it could give the impression that, because he dismissed the complaints on a technicality, there may have been some substance in the allegations.”
He added: “Parliamentary privilege is one of the bulwarks of democracy. It is a guarantee of freedom of speech within both Houses of Parliament and our committees.
“There is no doubt in the minds of those of us who received these letters that the complaints against us were designed to silence us, and that has very sinister implications.
“Members of Parliament and peers must be able to speak up and express any opinion on a public issue without fear of legal action.”
Read here (£)
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
