On 28 January, a letter, coordinated by the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition, was sent to Sir Keir Starmer calling for universal anti-SLAPP provisions to be included in the forthcoming King’s Speech, which is expected to take place in May 2026. It was signed by 127 editors, lawyers, academics, journalists, publishers and civil society representatives.
Since then, 39 more individuals, listed below, have also added their names to the list of signatories, which has been shared with the Government today. Taken together, the call for universal anti-SLAPP measures has now been backed by 166 representatives from across society.
Individuals who signed the letter since 28 January are:
Tony Gallagher, Editor, The Times
Ben Taylor, Editor, The Sunday Times
Victoria Newton, Editor-in-Chief, The Sun
James Slack, Deputy Editor, The Sun
Hannah Williams, Editor, The Londoner
Kate Knowles, Founder and Editor, The Dispatch
Owen Gibson, Deputy Editor, The Guardian
Nick Hopkins, Executive Editor for News, The Guardian
Archie Bland, Head of National News, The Guardian
Nick Mathiason, Co-founder and Co-director, Finance Uncovered
Simon Bowers, Investigations Editor, Finance Uncovered
Paul Murphy, Head of Investigations, Financial Times
Miles Johnson, Investigative reporter, Financial Times
John Battle KC (Hon), Head of Legal and Compliance, ITN
Antonious Porch, General Counsel, Condé Nast
Simon Dowson-Collins, General Counsel, HarperCollins Publishers
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, Human rights lawyer
Jennifer Robinson, Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
Alexander Papachristou, Executive Director, Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice
Meera Selva, CEO, Internews Europe
Jonathan Heawood, Executive Director, Public Interest News Foundation
David Hooper, Author of Buying Silence – How Oligarchs, Corporations and Plutocrats Use the Law to Gag their Critics, and Media Lawyer
Lisa Webb, Senior lawyer for Which?
Sandhiya Sophie Argent, Solicitor & Co-Founder, Creators Counsel
Dr Sarah Kunz, Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Essex
Dr Katie Higgins, Lecturer, School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield
Lucy Nevitt, Co-founder, The Gemini Project, and SLAPP target
Charlie Moloney, Media Law Commentator, Trainer & Journalist
Richard Porritt, Regional Editor, Newsquest
Toby Granville, Editorial development director, Newsquest
Richard Duggan, Regional Editor North West, Newsquest
Simon Murfitt, London Senior Editor, Newsquest
Rodney Edwards, Editor, The Impartial Reporter
Ben Fishwick, Regional Editor – Southampton & Isle of Wight, Newsquest
Deborah Bonetti, Director, Foreign Press Association in London
Dominic Cooper, Chief Executive, The Chartered Institute of Journalists
Mark Bergman, Principal, 7Pillars Global Insights, LLC
Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor, Computer Weekly
Mira Milosevic, Executive Director, Global Forum for Media Development
Tony Gallagher, the Editor of The Times said:
“Public interest journalism is vital to our functioning democracy. Unfounded threats of legal action against newsrooms and individual journalists are unfortunately a growing feature of the current journalistic landscape. Reform to protect journalism from SLAPPs is long overdue, and I hope to see this long-running campaign finally being taken seriously.”
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, Human rights lawyer said:
“Abusive lawsuits designed to silence investigative journalism and critical voices stifle free speech and undermine democracy, and all too often the UK courts and the UK legal system are used as vehicles for these SLAPPs and threatened SLAPPs. They can drag out for months and years, inflicting severe financial, emotional and reputational damage on those subjected to them.
There is cross-party consensus that these vexatious tactics should be stamped out in the UK. But this can only happen if anti-SLAPP measures are given political priority and Parliamentary time.”
John Battle KC (Hon), the Head of Legal and Compliance at ITN said:
“Parliament needs to address the issue of SLAPPs and stop the law being used to suppress investigative journalism. Reform is necessary – not only to reduce the enormous costs needed to defend defamation proceedings but also to support and promote public interest news reporting.”
The UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition Co-chairs said:
“A commitment to stamp out SLAPPs is a commitment to ensuring British justice remains a level playing field. Only then can SLAPP targets – be they journalists, campaigners, local organisers, sexual violence survivors, victims’ advocates or anyone speaking out in the public interest – mount a defence without being threatened into silence by the costs, trauma and disruption an abusive legal threat can cause. With the significant number of signatories, demonstrating the consensus across many sectors of society, echoing that already seen across political parties, we hope this letter serves to underscore to the Government the urgency of this issue, and the need to prioritise introducing measures that protect the right to speak up to challenge wrongdoing, scrutinise power and express ourselves freely.”