US Vice President JD Vance has reportedly suggested that the UK must weaken its LGBTQ+ hate speech laws in order to secure a trade agreement with the United States.
Speaking to UnHerd, Vance indicated that a deal was within reach, saying there’s a “good chance” of finalising a trade agreement that serves the interests of both countries. This comes as global markets face disruption following the Trump administration’s implementation of unprecedented tariffs.
However, according to an anonymous senior Washington official familiar with the negotiations, the vice president is allegedly applying pressure on the UK to relax existing protections against hate speech—including abuse targeting LGBTQ+ communities and other minorities—as a key condition for the trade agreement.
“The vice-president expressing optimism [on a trade deal] is a way of putting further pressure on the UK over free speech,” the source told The Independent. “If a deal does not go through, it makes Labour look bad. No free speech, no deal. It is as simple as that.”
A spokesperson from Downing Street denied that any discussion about rolling back hate speech protections was part of the ongoing trade negotiations, stating such issues were “not a feature of the talks”.
Vance’s strong views on free speech were also expressed at a conservative think tank event hosted by the Heritage Foundation in Munich earlier this year. During the speech, the vice president warned of internal threats to democracy and traditional European values.
“We gather at this conference, of course, to discuss security,” Vance began. “While the Trump administration is very concerned with European security… the threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within.”
Vance cited what he perceives as a “backslide away from conscience rights” in the UK, suggesting that it has placed “the basic liberties of religious Britons in particular in the crosshairs.”
He continued: “Free speech, I fear, is in retreat… the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe, but from within my own country.”
Referencing the early pandemic, Vance criticised his own government’s alleged efforts to censor discussion around COVID-19 origins. “Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth,” he said, referring to the lab-leak theory.
Since returning to office in January, the Trump administration has introduced a series of executive orders targeting the LGBTQ+ community. These include officially declaring that there are “only two sexes,” banning trans men and women from the military, restricting access to gender-affirming healthcare for those under 19, excluding trans women from female sports, and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies across federal institutions.
Despite its advocacy for free speech, the administration has faced criticism for contradicting its stance. Federal employees have been ordered to remove pronouns from their email signatures, and the White House has stated it will not engage with journalists who display pronouns in their bios.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The New York Times that it is a “matter of policy” that press aides refrain from responding to queries from reporters who include pronouns in their public profiles.
