On 8 October 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer provoked outrage by announcing plans to scrutinise and potentially restrict chants at pro-Palestine protests, triggering backlash over limiting free speech. Speaking to reporters while on a trade mission in India, he said he has asked Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to broaden a review of police powers, declaring the government must 'go further' on inflammatory slogans amid escalating communal tensions.
As thousands marched on the second anniversary of the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks, Starmer's pro-Palestine chant restrictions exposed Labour's delicate challenge of safeguarding Jewish communities and defending protest rights, fuelling debates over dissent in an increasingly polarised Britain.
