Keir Starmer in hypocrisy row as Richard Tice tears into PM over Lucy Connolly case: ‘MAJOR miscarriage of justice’

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Mr Tice delivered a blunt verdict and said a “shocking” development occurred in recent days which shows Sir Keir’s “hypocrisy” with regard to free speech in Britain.

“It is good news that finally Lucy is a free woman again, she should never have been incarcerated in the first place,” he said.

“She has been a victim of a major miscarriage of justice. I think it’s pretty shocking when we found out in the last few days that Keir Starmer, when he was Director of Public Prosecutions back in 2013, issued guidance which said that people who put offensive tweets online, if they showed remorse, they should not be jailed.

“That just shows the prosecution of the Prime Minister. It shows two-tier Keir and two-tier justice. When I visited Lucy, despite all the provocations she’d had and the assault from prison warders, she has been resilient and I hope she will have an emotional reunion with her daughter, husband, family and friends.

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“I hope she can move on from this terrible ordeal she has suffered as quickly as possible.”

Mr Tice visited Mrs Connolly at HMP Peterborough in June, where he said she had been mistreated by prison officers without explanation.

Taxi believed to be carrying Lucy Connolly leaves HMP Peterborough

He proposed a bill in the wake of Mrs Connolly’s case which would allow members of the public a say when they think criminal sentences are either too harsh or too lenient.

He was asked by Alex whether Reform UK will be pursuing similar policies, which he confirmed.

“We will definitely be pursuing an agenda based around free speech, freedom of expression,” he said.

“We know the United States is looking very closely at the UK. The whole point of Lucy’s Law is, if someone is judged to have what is perceived to be too lenient a sentence, we can have the Attorney General look at it.

“If someone has too harsh a sentence, there appears to be no means to review that. I think in a democracy we should be able to say, ‘even our learned judges can get things wrong’.

“I think these things are about triggering debate and making sure we’ve got the balance wrong and we’ve got a Prime Minister who essentially ordered the judiciary to punish everyone very strongly.

MORE ON LUCY CONNOLLY'S RELEASE: Lucy Connolly should 'shame Keir Starmer' after prison release, Carole Malone says

“It had very grave consequences for the executives of power and significant implications from what the Prime Minister did last year. Why was Lucy advised to plead guilty? We very recently had the incident of Labour councillor Ricky Jones who was found not guilty by a jury, having pled not guilty.

“It does ask very serious questions about the rush to plead guilty and they then got a harsher sentence.”

Mr Tice was then asked if he feels the judiciary is “broken” as a result, to which he said: “We do have very serious concerns about that.

“In this case and with regard to immigration tribunals. We have judges there making, frankly, activist-style judgments about the suitability of someone to be deported.”

Mrs Connolly, 42, pleaded guilty in September after posting an expletive-ridden message on X in response to the deaths of three girls in Southport in July 2024.

She called for “mass deportation now” and called for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.

A 31-month prison sentence was handed down in October at Birmingham Crown Court and she was released after serving 40 per cent of her term.

She will now serve the remainder of her sentence on licence under the supervision of the probation service.

Her sentencing has sparked huge divide in Britain, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch among those criticising its perceived heavy-handedness.

Ms Badenoch pointed out that her punishment was “harsher than the sentences handed down for bricks thrown at police or actual rioting.

“Protecting people from words should not be given greater weight in law than public safety. If the law does this, then the law itself is broken and it’s time Parliament looked again at the Public Order Act.”

Free Speech Union founder Lord Young of Acton said the fact Ms Connolly was handed jail time was a “national scandal”.

Sir Keir Starmer defended the sentencing during Prime Minister’s Questions on 21 May while insisting he remains committed to ensuring free speech is a bedrock of British society.

“We’ve had free speech in this country for a very long time and we protect it fiercely,” he told MPs.

“But I am equally against incitement to violence against other people. I will always support the action taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe.”