The US has warned that censorship of free speech is getting worse in the UK.

On Tuesday, the US state department released its annual Human Rights Report, claiming there are “credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression” in Britain.

The “human rights situation worsened” in Britain in 2024, the report said, frequently referring to the period after Sir Keir Starmer won the election last July. It also criticised the Online Safety Act .

Following the Southport attack last year, the UK Government “repeatedly intervened to chill speech”, the report said.

Although not mentioned by name in the report, the White House has previously expressed an interest in Lucy Connolly , a former childminder and wife of a Conservative councillor, who is serving a two-and-a-half-year

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