Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “very proud” of free speech in the UK following criticism from US vice president JD Vance.
Mr Vance said during a speech at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month that European governments, including the UK’s, had retreated from their values and ignored voter concerns on migration and free speech.
Sitting alongside the UK prime minister and US president Donald Trump, Mr Vance responded to a question about these remarks: “Look, I said what I said, which is that we do have, of course, a special relationship with our friends in the UK, and also some of our European allies.
“But we also know that there have been infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British – of course what the British do in their own country is up to them – but also affect American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens, so that is something that we’ll talk about today at lunch.”
Mr Starmer then responded: “Well, we’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and it will last for a very, very long time.
“Certainly, we wouldn’t want to reach across US citizens, and we don’t, and that’s absolutely right, but in relation to free speech in the UK I’m very proud of our history there.”
