Freedom of Speech — House of Lords, 2021-12-10
Topic: Civil Rights
Justin Welby (Bishops, Unknown): My Lords, by the grace of God my voice is giving out entirely. It is 2.05 pm and I will be relatively brief. We have just heard an absolutely magnificent summing up from the Minister. He has saved me a lot of time in following that. I will just pick up some basic principles that seem to have come out of what, to me, has been a remarkable debate. Not a single speech has failed to attract a lot of notes in my notebook. It has been an extraordinary contribution by a wide range of very wise people It is a fortunate coincidence, and particularly fitting, that this is international Human Rights Day. It is also clear—I had not added it up in my mind—that not only do we have the report on online safety coming, as the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, pointed out to us, but we also have a whole rank of legislation to which the principles we have talked about today will be applicable. I will come back to that in a minute I will draw on some things that seem to have been brought out. The noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, and other noble Lords quite rightly emphasised the importance of truth. That centrality of what we are trying to arrive at—a truthful, generous and just society—is at the heart of what we are doing The noble Baroness, Lady Stowell, referred to many of the institutions, some of which she has headed, that have a role in regulation in our society. I agreed entirely with her very good speech. My only question was when she said they should not be political. I say that all existence is political. They should not be partisan, but I suspect she was using the word in the way I use "partisan". It was very helpful as she went through those things The importance of truth is first. Second is the importance of debate and reason. Many things have been raised here, so I will skip over most of my notes. I simply say that I was deeply moved by the long list from the noble Baroness, Lady Jenkin of Kennington, of those who have suffered from the intolerance that many have been going through, particularly those such as JK Rowling and many academics. That is a principle we have to bear in mind as we go forward Third is the recognition of power. My right reverend friend the Bishop of Oxford did an extraordinary job outlining what I had referred to too briefly in my opening speech as the commodification of freedom of speech. His expertise in that area is very important. Particularly, he drew out the fact that algorithms come from money and profit. They are driven more by hatred than by politeness and courtesy I was particularly struck by the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Hannan, about generous listening. I thought that was a powerful phrase, because generous and careful listening undermines power differentials. Talking of power differentials, the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, was not allowed to speak from these two Benches yesterday. I am not allowed to speak from any Bench apart from these two, so I am more persecuted than she is. I am kidding. Archbishops of Canterbury are never persecuted—although they are occasionally executed. What the noble Baroness, Lady Uddin, said about power was extraordinarily powerful. I took extensive notes and will reflect on them at some length Fourthly, on equipping and training for free speech, the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, spoke eloquently and powerfully about the danger of safe spaces. The only quibble—it is a quibble—I would make is that the term "safe spaces" is misused. There are plenty of safe spaces that are designed as such. Think of what the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, said in her summing up: a Jewish society at a university is not obliged to invite people who deny the Holocaust. It is a safe space from that point of view. Debating societies remain safe spaces because they have rules about the quality of debate. This place is a safe space because it has rules about what you can and cannot say. If I were to say what I thought about the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Barchester—that I believe he is a drunken, cowardly sot—I would rightly, if he existed, be picked up almost immediately. There would be cries of "order" all around and I would be asked to withdraw. That makes this a safe space. Safe spaces can exist without restricting freedom of speech. However, we need to equip and train people for freedom of speech. I draw your Lordships’ attention to the rules of the University of Chicago on freedom of speech; google it and you will find a fascinating account of how, for more than 100 years, it has been one of the formative principles of that university. It is well worth looking at Fifthly, we need to challenge. We need the importance of truth, debate and reason, the recognition of power, equipping in training and the challenge of vetoes and assassins—of the tendency to kill, coerce and cause to flee. The noble Baroness, Lady Merron, was particularly powerful on this in what she said about culture wars and toxicity. We met each other when she was running the Board of Deputies; the Church of England has also signed up to the IHRA, just so you know. I am sure that she knew that already but it was not mentioned. Noble Lords know the old rule: everything has been said but it has not all been said by me I was particularly moved by the characteristically generous and thoughtful speech of the noble Lord, Lord Singh. His call to move with the times as a way of avoiding the toxicity of culture wars was very powerful indeed. In moving with the times, I come to the question of the church of St Mary the Virgin in Teesdale, raised by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh. I hear from the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham that there has been no decision to close it yet. There will have to be a lengthy consultation. When we do consultations in the Church of England, we think in centuries, sadly Sixthly, I hope that the Government will reflect on the principles that have been so wisely shared across this House as they bring forward the legislation they are bringing forward at the moment. I hope that there are ways of testing the quality of that legislation, because this is not purely political. All these subjects, including in the PCSC Bill, are extremely difficult to legislate on. May these principles, which have been so widely brought out, be the principles on which we do our legislating. They include others that I will just mention in a few sentences The noble Lord, Lord Cashman, talked about the way we label for exclusion. I have talked about anti-Semitism and picked up what the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, said. My final point comes back to what the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Sentamu, said about the importance of law. That is why we must bring this debate together with the legislation because, as he quoted from two books I have also read by Law Lords, I recognise the centrality of that in expressing in words what we hope to develop in attitudes Finally—genuinely finally—I was deeply touched by the stories that the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, told about his friendships with people with whom he disagreed almost entirely. At the heart of freedom of speech is the interlinking between freedom of speech, just and generous communities and healthy relationships across our society. He brought that out wonderfully. I am sure that when we take up the offer of the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, of a series of lectures, he will be able to expand on that better than I ever could. Once again, I thank your Lordships for an absolutely wonderful series of speeches. I am deeply grateful for your taking time on a Friday and I will not detain you any longer.