Arrested for praying? Justice has finally been done, but the fight isn’t over

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce has won £13,000 payout and an apology from police after being arrested for silently praying outside an abortion clinic. It’s good news, but freedom of speech could still be restricted in the UK, warns the Evangelical Alliance’s Danny Webster

In the UK our freedom of speech is one of the most central and cherished aspects of our society. Over the centuries many battles – sometimes literal ones – have been fought to ensure that we are free to speak.

Our free speech isn’t restricted because others disagree with it, or as Lord Justice Sedley said in a highly influential court judgment: “Free speech includes not only the inoffensive but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative provided it does not tend to provoke violence. Freedom to only speak inoffensively is not worth having.”

I should therefore be celebrating the £13,000 payout to the Christian campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce following her arrest, prosecution and acquittal (twice) for silently praying outside an abortion clinic. This is a victory for common sense, and a recognition that the law does protect our freedoms. In many cases where Christians are arrested while engaged in similar activities or street preaching, the charges are often dropped, the cases do not make it to court, or if they do they are found not-guilty. That is a reminder of the strength of our legal system and the rights it protects.