Three quarters of Brits are too afraid to speak their mind because of the risk of harassment, shocking report reveals

Britons are being cowed into silence for fear of being attacked over their views, a major report reveals today.

Three quarters of respondents, including teachers, councillors and academics, told a government adviser they were being forced to self-censor after being bombarded by threats and intimidation, creating a ‘chilling’ effect on freedom of speech.

Some fear for their lives and the safety of their families, while others have had to leave their jobs or move house, the study into social cohesion by Dame Sara Khan found. Yet in many cases they have been let down by the authorities, with some politicians being told that abuse goes with the job.

In one example, an RE teacher forced into hiding in West Yorkshire after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad was not even considered a crime victim and no one was arrested for hounding him. Three years on he is still in hiding and suffering from PTSD.

The war in the Middle East has also fuelled division in England, with Jews afraid to venture into city centres during pro-Palestinian protests, while many people fear being branded anti-Semitic if they speak out against the Israeli government. 

Today’s study also tells how the far-Right has stoked division in English towns by spreading fake news and conspiracy theories about asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, authors are being ‘cancelled’ for their views, with librarians being told to censor the books on their shelves and one professor telling the inquiry they lost a publishing deal because of a smear campaign that they had called for the ‘murder of transgender people’.

Dame Sara wants ministers to set up an Office for Social Cohesion and Democratic Resilience, as well as banning protests outside schools, and says police need dedicated ‘safety officers’ to tackle persistent harassment, including on social media. 

She said her findings were a ‘damning indictment of the state of harassment and censorship in our country’.

‘If we care about protecting those democratic rights and freedoms that are so central to us as a nation, my call to the Government is we have to do far more to tackle this threat which is undermining academic freedom, press freedom, the arts and cultural sector and civic society.

‘It poses a serious threat to our democratic way of life,’ she told Sky News.

Dame Sara’s research found that three-quarters of respondents had restricted expressing a view publicly out of fear of receiving abuse to themselves or their family. And almost half (47 per cent) said they had witnessed other people being harassed, which had led them to self-censor.

One council leader told the inquiry how they had received thousands of death threats and messages about their two-year-old daughter being gang-raped.

‘I make my daughter sleep next to a fire blanket in case someone fire-bombs my home, as a previous councillor has had her property fire-bombed,’ they said.

‘The response from the police has been dismal and I’ve had little support. It has made me seriously question whether I want or can stay in politics.’