Greg Smith

Greg Smith

Conservative — Mid Buckinghamshire

Speaking in the House of Commons on 11 March 2025

Debate

Employment Rights Bill

Contribution

I will get back to James Murray, the legal director of Doyle Clayton, who has pointed out that this clause could well cause difficulties for universities in offering those platforms to discuss issues where people have differing views. He said: “If we think about a speaker that has been invited—say it’s a controversial gender critical speaker, like Julie Bindel or Kathleen Stock—someone might somewhat disingenuously say” that they are an employee of the university and that they find what they say to be deeply harassing. He also said: “The concern is that this will shift the balance away from free speech and universities will be more risk averse as they won’t want to be held liable for third-party harassment.” Why do the Government want to run that risk? There is then the burden on businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector.

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