Lord Toby Young has hit out at Thanet District Council's "unlawful" bid to ban swearing in public, branding the move "ridiculous".
Speaking to GB News, the founder of the Free Speech Union warned that councils "up and down the country" are becoming "more and more promiscuous" about imposing similar "absurd" bans.
Following the passing of the Order, Free Speech Union announced they were planning a legal challenge against the council, warning they risk wasting "large sums of taxpayers' money" if it takes up the fight.
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Toby Young has hit out at Thanet District Council for imposing a ban on 'foul and abusive language'
|GETTY / GB NEWS
Detailing his visit to Margate, Lord Young told GB News: "Thanet District Council passed this new Public Space Protection Order, and several of the Labour councillors, including the leader, were very scathing and rude about the Free Speech Union. They tried to pass a very similar ban last year, we threatened them with legal action and they abandoned the attempt.
"They're now trying it again, but they were very scathing, saying they weren't scared of us, said that if I came down to Margate, they would give me a piece of their mind, so I decided to take them up on the challenge. I went to Margate last Tuesday hoping to meet with the leader of the council, and he was nowhere to be seen, he didn't want to debate their swearing ban."
Highlighting the other details of the Order, Lord Young revealed that the ban was also originally including "excretion of bodily fluids in public", meaning a ban on sneezing, crying and breast feeding.
Lord Young explained: "It's not just swearing they're trying to ban, at one point they wanted to ban the excretion of bodily fluids in public, which would have made it a crime to breastfeed or to sneeze in public. They really haven't thought this through and they've now dropped that part, but they still want to make it a crime punishable by a £100 fine to use foul or abusive language.
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Thanet District Council is being legally challenged by the Free Speech Union on their Public Spaces Protection Order
|"They're going to employ enforcement officers from a local private security company to go around finding people. And if you stub your toe in Margate or Ramsgate or Broadstairs, chances are a man in a hi-vis vest will tap on your shoulder and demand £100. It's completely ridiculous, we don't think it's lawful."
Criticising councils "up and down the country" for attempting to enforce similar policy, Lord Young fumed: "Councils up and down the country are becoming more and more promiscuous about imposing these absurd bans, criminalising various forms of speech.
"We're now going to take them to court. We're going to say, I'm sorry, you can't do this, it's unlawful, and it clashes with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of speech. Get back in your box."
Telling GB News of the next steps in the Free Speech Union's legal action, Lord Young revealed the council plan to "fight it", which he branded a "grave mistake".
Lord Young told GB News that the Order imposed is 'not thought through'
|GB NEWS
Lord Young said: "They've gone quite quiet since my visit to Margate, but they have responded to our legal threat saying they intend to fight it, which I think is a grave mistake. They've drafted this Public Space Protection Order so clumsily that there's no way a court will side with them.
"They're now going to waste tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of local taxpayer's money only to lose at the end of this process. It may sound reasonable banning swearing in towns in your particular district, but it's so imprecise, it's so candidly worded, they want to make it unlawful to use foul or abusive language, and those terms have no legal meaning in English common law."
A Thanet District Council spokesman said: "The amendments are points of clarification around the language and terminology used and do not change the substance of the order in any way. The clarifications follow feedback from the FSU, which has indicated in a letter to the council on July 31 that it intends to legally challenge the council’s PSPO.
"The council received overwhelming support for the proposed PSPO in response to its public consultation. The council feels the changes proposed provide the clarification required."