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Why the left needs freedom of speech
It’s time for the Labour and trade union movement to reclaim the ground that is rightfully ours, and defend freedom of speech as a core left-wing commitment, write JANE SHALLICE and SHEREEN BENJAMIN

RECENT weeks have seen the Tories seizing yet more ground in what were previously Labour strongholds.

But it’s not only votes and constituencies that have been lost.

A wave of knee-jerk suspensions of socialists from the Labour Party and the party’s widespread silencing of women who want to discuss sex-based rights, have enabled the Conservatives to present themselves as the defenders of freedom of speech in the face of a censorious left.

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