Jury trials are a cornerstone of our criminal justice system and an essential safeguard against a repressive state and an increasingly militant cancel culture mob. The last Government proposed significantly curbing our right to a jury trial. FSU research shows that people charged with speech-related offences are almost twice as likely to be acquitted in a Crown Court jury trial as in a magistrates’ court. Put simply, more people could be jailed for exercising their right to free speech. Andy Burnham called jury trials a “lynchpin of a fair society” and has made some changes to Lammy’s proposals. But the plans remain very much alive. Today, the Free Speech Union is heading to Downing Street to deliver our petition, calling on Burnham and his Government to guarantee our right to a jury trial. Thank you to everyone who signed.

The police watchdog has found that the Met may have unfairly arrested Graham Linehan because of his gender-critical beliefs. Last September, the Irish comedian was arrested at Heathrow by five armed police officers, then detained and questioned. His blood pressure rose so dangerously high that he needed treatment at A&E. His “crime”? Three gender-critical posts on X. With support from the Free Speech Union, @Glinner sent the Met a pre-action letter arguing that his arrest was unlawful. The force apologised publicly and paid him £25,000 in compensation. Graham also complained to the Met’s Director of Professional Standards about the way he was arrested and detained. The Met’s internal review described its handling of the case as “unacceptable”, but no officers were disciplined. Now the Independent Office for Police Conduct has said the review “did not go far enough” and its findings were “not reasonable or proportionate”. It has ordered the Met to reinvestigate how Graham was treated, including whether he was treated unfairly because of his gender-critical views, which are protected under the Equality Act 2010. This is a welcome development. The reinvestigation will examine whether political bias played a part in the Met’s treatment of Graham — and bring us one step closer to ensuring the police focus on policing our streets, not our tweets. Watch FSU External Affairs Officer @_ConnieShaw 👇

Does this Government have no shame? The whole process of drafting and implementing the official definition of “anti-Muslim hostility” stinks. First, Angela Rayner appointed five people to the Working Group tasked with drafting the definition. All had previously expressed support for the need for a definition, and all had troubling links to Islamist organisations. Second, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it had deleted all responses to the Working Group’s consultation. That appeared to contradict the Government’s own data policy and has only fuelled speculation that Islamist extremists may have had an opportunity to influence the process. Third, the Ministry has now admitted that it did not delete the responses after all: they still exist on the department’s data system. What on earth is going on? It is time for Angela Rayner to come clean with the British public.