US vice-president JD Vance has doubled down on remarks at the Munich security conference regarding free speech violations in Scotland and the UK.
In a speech at the Munich Security Conference on February 14, Donald Trump’s deputy wrongly claimed that the Scottish legislation meant that “even private prayer within a person’s own home may amount to breaking the law”, further claiming that the Government had urged people to report “any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thought crime”.
The legislation – spearheaded by Scottish Greens MSP Gillian Mackay, who called Vance’s speech “total nonsense and dangerous scaremongering” – passed the Scottish Parliament in a historic moment last year, and sees anti-abortion protests within 200m of abortion service providers banned.
But the law does not prohibit anyone from praying within their own homes, as Vance claimed.
When questioned about his remarks, Trump pointed at Vance, who said: “Look, I said what I said, which is that we do have, of course, a special relationship with our friends in the UK, and also some of our European allies, but we also know that there have been infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British – of course what the British do in their own country is up to them – but also affect American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens, so that is something that we’ll talk about today at lunch.”
Starmer responded: “Well, we’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and it will last for a very, very long time.
“Certainly, we wouldn’t want to reach across US citizens, and we don’t, and that’s absolutely right, but in relation to free speech in the UK, I’m very proud of our history there.”
Elsewhere, the US president accepted the King's invitation to visit the UK in the “near future” as he met the Prime Minister at the White House.
Trump and Starmer are meeting for crunch talks on Ukraine, trade and technology, with the Prime Minister set to push his US counterpart on the idea of a US “backstop” for any peace deal with Kyiv.
Starmer handed Trump a letter from the King as the two were facing cameras in the Oval Office ahead of the more in-depth talks.
The King suggested he and Trump could meet before that visit, either at Dumfries House or Balmoral, which are near the businessman’s golf courses in Scotland, to discuss the plans for the much grander state visit.
