Reform UK leader Nigel Farage plans to use the case of Lucy Connolly as a “clear example” of Britain’s free speech problems when he testifies before allies of President Trump in Washington. He will also accuse Prime Minister Keir Starmer of damaging trade relations with the United States.
Farage is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, during a hearing on how UK and European online safety laws affect American citizens and technology companies. According to a report by The Times, Farage intends to use this opportunity to criticize Starmer’s handling of the issue.
His intervention comes as President Trump has threatened to impose additional tariffs on countries that maintain digital regulations deemed discriminatory against US tech companies. Jordan recently led a delegation to Brussels and London to examine how “aggressive European speech regulations affect American free speech rights.”
Connolly, a former child-care worker, was jailed last year after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred for a post on X that criticized asylum hotels in the UK. Her case has become a focal point for critics of the UK’s speech laws in both Britain and the US.
“I think it’s a very clear example of what’s gone wrong. I shall say [at the hearing] that I’m worried that Europe, the European Union, is heading down a route that’s putting it in direct conflict with American businesses. And I fear we’re being dragged down the same path, I genuinely do,” said Farage.
Farage also intends to raise concerns about the UK’s Online Safety Act, which gives the UK’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) the authority to fine social media platforms up to 10 percent of their revenues. Farage will further address the UK’s “creeping censorship” and “the damage it’s doing to our commercial relations with America.”
