Do you believe in freedom and democracy? Just answer the question!
In a guest post, Marc Glendening introduces a new website that enables voters to challenge local candidates on five very important questions.
The General Election campaign is a vital opportunity to challenge our politicians (and would-be politicians) about a wide range of issues. After all, for once, they are seeking something from us: our votes. But the election campaign, as it plays out in the media, is often narrowly focused and misses concerns that transcend party politics - particularly around freedom of speech.
Here, Marc Glendening, organiser of Just Answer the Question, talks about his project to get round this problem, allowing voters to see what candidates in their constituency respond on some fundamental issues - and what it all means for the direction of politics today.
Do you want to know if the person aspiring to represent you in Parliament after 4 July respects your right not to be placed on a 'non-crime hate incident' database? This could quite possibly be recorded on such a database simply for legally expressing an opinion.
What about your right to tell a child, friend or patient of yours what you honestly believe to be in their own best interest concerning a stated desire to transition to being a member of the opposite sex/gender? Does the candidate think you should get a criminal record for doing anything other than affirming this intention? Believe it or not, this is one of Keir Starmer's few concrete manifesto commitments.
And what about your right not to have the money you must hand over in tax used by public bodies, such as schools, to promote politically partisan ideologies such as Critical Race Theory without any balance?
If the answer to knowing what your local candidate thinks about these issues is 'yes', then please take a look at a new website, justanswerthequestion.co.uk, that is asking candidates of all parties five direct 'yes/no' questions relating to free speech and broader democratic issues. The answers of those who have responded to our challenge have been recorded. We also show the failure to respond.
The rationale for this initiative is that in addition to the struggle between the big parties over conventional issues, there is now a need for a second level of political contestation: one between, on the one hand, people from all political backgrounds and, on the other, the political class collectively. Just Answer The Question is designed to help kick start a long-term realignment, whereby those concerned by the incremental erosion of our political rights start to harness their potential voter-power.
What Are The Questions?
Do you agree that the police should stop placing persons on ‘hate’ registers who have committed no crime? YES or NO
Do you agree that parents and psychotherapists should be free to advise young persons and others *not* to change sex/gender? YES or NO
Do you believe that it is wrong for teachers to tell school kids that Britain is a ‘structurally racist' society? YES or NO
Do you agree that an official state definition of 'Islamophobia' will curtail our right to be critical of a religion? YES or NO
Do you agree that everyone should have the freedom to speak their mind which includes the right to offend and hold controversial views? YES or NO
So far, just over 150 candidates have given 'yes' answers to all our questions, earning them the award of being listed as 'Free Speech Champions'. The site also enables voters to get in touch with their own candidates directly. Some voters are forwarding to us the replies they have received as well as letting us know when candidates don’t respond.Â
As citizens we need to start exercising our collective agency. Ultimately, this can only be done by threatening to withhold our support from those politicians whose agenda is to increase the gap between the political class and the electorate. We also need a way of rewarding those who will defend our basic liberties.Â
The 'silent revolution' we are now experiencing in politics represents a movement towards a post-liberal democratic order. For example, there is the way in which the state is now building a formidable body of powers that enable even private conversations to become matters that the police can act on, based on vaguely-defined, arbitrary interpretations of 'hate'. The Online Safety Act enables regulators to block what they judge to be 'misinformation'. Those entrusted with public assets can load the dice in favour of their favoured positions and groups - the birth of a semi-official state ideology. And there is the transfer of effective policy-making power to judges and other unelected officials.Â
Interestingly, of the candidates who have so far been designated champions of free speech, virtually all have come from the outsider parties: the SDP, Reform UK, the Workers' Party, Alba and assorted smaller groupings. Only five Conservatives have provided five 'yes' answers. No Labour, Lib Dem, Green, SNP or Plaid candidates have even responded.
This, in itself, arguably reveals that a spontaneous and necessary alliance is beginning to form between individuals and movements with very different ideological backgrounds. Whatever the differences of opinion between these groups about specific policies, there is an understanding that some basic political freedoms need to be fought for. This will become an even greater necessity with the advent of the next government. Â
Marc Glendening is organiser of Just Answer the Question. He is the former head of cultural affairs at the Institute of Economic Affairs and author of Transgender Ideology: a new threat to liberal values.