Over 300 academics call out Education Secretary for ‘failing to protect free speech’ on university campuses

The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has come under fire from hundreds of academics for delaying plans to combat “cancel culture” on university campuses.

At the start of 2025, she pledged to legalise a complaints scheme to protect academics’ free speech against censorship attempts by students or university authorities.

Phillipson stated at the time that the changes would “protect free speech but avoid implementing excessive and burdensome provisions which could have exposed struggling universities to disproportionate costs”.

The proposed changes would target the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which was passed by the Conservative government in 2023 before being placed under review in July 2024, following Labour’s rise to power.

370 academics, including three Nobel Laureates, have sent a letter to the Education Secretary, stressing the consequences of this delay

However, the Department for Education has not surfaced any action plans for this protective measure since.

Now, 370 academics, including three Nobel Laureates, have sent a letter to the Education Secretary, stressing the consequences of this delay.

The letter warned that neglecting academic freedom was causing university staff to self-censor, limiting freedom of speech on campus and “damaging the integrity of research and scholarship”.

The signatories urged Phillipson to find parliamentary time to resurface plans for the system. The Times reported, however, that sources have implied that debates about the changes are unlikely to feature in next year’s parliamentary session.

This renewed sense of urgency followed an incident at Sheffield Hallam University last year, where Professor Laura Murphy was ordered to halt her research on human rights abuse in China, given the pressure received from Beijing.

[The new] scheme would allow the Office for Students to investigate complaints, reverse disciplinary decisions, pay compensation, and direct universities in changing their procedures

At the time, Murphy stated to The Guardian that it seemed as though the university had “explicitly traded her academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market”.

A counterterrorism police investigation had followed this incident under suspicion of breaching the National Security Act 2023.

Problems surrounding free speech in academia arose in other UK universities during 2025, such as the University of Bristol.

With lectures being disrupted by protests and research being silenced, academics are anxious for the new complaints scheme to come into action.

According to The Times, this scheme would allow the Office for Students to investigate complaints, reverse disciplinary decisions, pay compensation, and direct universities in changing their procedures.

Shadow Education Secretary, Laura Trott, said that “free speech is a cornerstone of our universities”, and that “the Education Secretary must act” against free speech infringement and censorship as soon as possible.