The Law Commission said people with outspoken views should have stronger safeguards to be protected under freedom of speech laws and private conversations should also be protected.
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People who question migrants or criticise the transgender issues will now be protected from hate crime prosecutions under a new law proposed to protect freedom of speech laws.
In a major report on hate crime published on Tuesday, the Law Commission said people with outspoken views on transgender, cultural and political issues should be protected from the threat of prosecution.
It would mean freedom of speech safeguards for people who believe transgender women are not real women or oppose any immigration or attack the policies of countries such as Israel or China.
The Law Commission warned that without putting proper protections into written law, officials could mount hate crime investigations into people that would have a on legitimate debate and people’s right to freedom of expression.
The change to the hate crimes law, said that private conversations should also be protected, to ensure people were not prosecuted for talking at the dinner table.
It said: “The understandable importance that law enforcement authorities place on being seen to tackle hate crime may mean they do not give sufficient consideration to the implications of their actions on freedom of expression when considering how to respond to allegations of ‘hate speech’.
“We believe that insofar as the law itself may be giving rise to ill-founded complaints that interfere with the right to freedom of expression, the correct way to address this is by clearly defining the limits of the stirring up offences.
“It is possible that in making clear that the law does not criminalise, for instance, discussion of controversial topics, our recommendations will enable law enforcement officials to deal robustly in dismissing complaints that do not amount to a criminal offence.”
