{"id":6221,"date":"2026-06-18T11:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/?p=6221"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:18:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:18:03","slug":"sir-johns-anti-slapps-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/?p=6221","title":{"rendered":"Sir John&#8217;s Anti-SLAPPs Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"6221\" class=\"elementor elementor-6221\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-537f7a8 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"537f7a8\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-dcf3f54 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"dcf3f54\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p data-start=\"1197\" data-end=\"1358\">Sir John Whittingdale MP has introduced his Private Member\u2019s Bill on SLAPPs (strategic litigation against public participation) in the House of Commons.<\/p><p data-start=\"1360\" data-end=\"1576\">The Bill seeks to strengthen controls against the use of SLAPPs, which Sir John describes as an abuse of the legal system that can be used to suppress legitimate investigative journalism and restrict free expression.<\/p><p data-start=\"1360\" data-end=\"1576\">In general, Private Member\u2019s Bills allow individual MPs who are not Government Ministers to propose new legislation and raise issues they believe require further consideration. While only a small number progress into law, the process provides an opportunity for MPs to bring forward proposals, encourage debate and seek support across Parliament.<\/p><p data-start=\"1360\" data-end=\"1576\">In introducing the Bill, Sir John highlighted the importance of ensuring that the legal system cannot be used to suppress public interest reporting or silence debate. The legislation reflects his focus on strengthening protections around free expression and tackling what he describes as an abuse of the legal process.<\/p><p data-start=\"1360\" data-end=\"1576\">This Bill will now progress through the parliamentary process, with further stages including debate and consideration by MPs. Updates will be shared on this page as the Bill develops and as discussions continue in Parliament.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-de6a9e9 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"de6a9e9\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5ebbfe0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"5ebbfe0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Introducing the Bill - 17th June 2026<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e132be1 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"e132be1\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ad7b594 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"ad7b594\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Sir John said: \u201cToday, I introduced my private members\u2019 bill on SLAPPs (strategic litigation against public participation) to the House of Commons. I am delighted to have this opportunity to try and strengthen controls against SLAPPs. They represent an abuse of the legal system and, for too long, have been used by the rich and powerful to suppress legitimate investigative journalism and to muzzle free expression.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sir John&#8217;s Private Member\u2019s Bill on SLAPPs, which seeks to strengthen protections against strategic litigation that he says can restrict legitimate investigative journalism and free expression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speeches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6221"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6237,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221\/revisions\/6237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}