Richard Tice has accused Sir Keir Starmer of hypocrisy after Lucy Connolly was launched from jail.
The Deputy Chief of Reform UK joined Alex Armstrong on GB Information to debate the previous childminder’s incarceration for “inciting racial hatred” on-line.
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Mr Tice delivered a blunt verdict and mentioned a “surprising” growth occurred in latest days which exhibits Sir Keir’s “hypocrisy” with regard to free speech in Britain.
“It’s excellent news that lastly Lucy is a free girl once more, she ought to by no means have been incarcerated within the first place,” he mentioned.
“She has been a sufferer of a serious miscarriage of justice. I believe it’s fairly surprising after we came upon in the previous few days that Keir Starmer, when he was Director of Public Prosecutions again in 2013, issued steerage which mentioned that individuals who put offensive tweets on-line, in the event that they confirmed regret, they shouldn’t be jailed.
“That simply exhibits the prosecution of the Prime Minister. It exhibits two-tier Keir and two-tier justice. Once I visited Lucy, regardless of all of the provocations she’d had and the assault from jail warders, she has been resilient and I hope she can have an emotional reunion together with her daughter, husband, household and pals.
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“I hope she will transfer on from this horrible ordeal she has suffered as rapidly as doable.”
Mr Tice visited Mrs Connolly at HMP Peterborough in June, the place he mentioned she had been mistreated by jail officers with out rationalization.
Taxi believed to be carrying Lucy Connolly leaves HMP Peterborough
He proposed a invoice within the wake of Mrs Connolly’s case which might permit members of the general public a say once they assume legal sentences are both too harsh or too lenient.
He was requested by Alex whether or not Reform UK might be pursuing comparable insurance policies, which he confirmed.
“We will certainly be pursuing an agenda primarily based round free speech, freedom of expression,” he mentioned.
“We all know the US is wanting very carefully on the UK. The entire level of Lucy’s Legislation is, if somebody is judged to have what’s perceived to be too lenient a sentence, we are able to have the Legal professional Basic have a look at it.
“If somebody has too harsh a sentence, there seems to be no means to evaluation that. I believe in a democracy we should always be capable of say, ‘even our realized judges can get issues mistaken’.
“I believe these items are about triggering debate and ensuring we’ve received the steadiness mistaken and we’ve received a Prime Minister who primarily ordered the judiciary to punish everybody very strongly.
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“It had very grave penalties for the executives of energy and vital implications from what the Prime Minister did final yr. Why was Lucy suggested to plead responsible? We very just lately had the incident of Labour councillor Ricky Jones who was discovered not responsible by a jury, having pled not responsible.
“It does ask very severe questions concerning the rush to plead responsible they usually then received a harsher sentence.”
Mr Tice was then requested if he feels the judiciary is “damaged” in consequence, to which he mentioned: “We do have very severe issues about that.
“On this case and with regard to immigration tribunals. Now we have judges there making, frankly, activist-style judgments concerning the suitability of somebody to be deported.”
Mrs Connolly, 42, pleaded responsible in September after posting an expletive-ridden message on X in response to the deaths of three ladies in Southport in July 2024.
She known as for “mass deportation now” and known as for lodges housing asylum seekers to be set alight.
A 31-month jail sentence was handed down in October at Birmingham Crown Courtroom and he or she was launched after serving 40 per cent of her time period.
She’s going to now serve the rest of her sentence on licence beneath the supervision of the probation service.
Her sentencing has sparked large divide in Britain, with Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch amongst these criticising its perceived heavy-handedness.
Ms Badenoch identified that her punishment was “harsher than the sentences handed down for bricks thrown at police or precise rioting.
“Defending individuals from phrases shouldn’t be given better weight in legislation than public security. If the legislation does this, then the legislation itself is damaged and it’s time Parliament appeared once more on the Public Order Act.”
Free Speech Union founder Lord Younger of Acton mentioned the actual fact Ms Connolly was handed jail time was a “nationwide scandal”.
Sir Keir Starmer defended the sentencing throughout Prime Minister’s Questions on 21 Could whereas insisting he stays dedicated to making sure free speech is a bedrock of British society.
“We’ve had free speech on this nation for a really very long time and we shield it fiercely,” he instructed MPs.
“However I’m equally in opposition to incitement to violence in opposition to different individuals. I’ll all the time assist the motion taken by our police and courts to maintain our streets and other people secure.”