The Houses of Parliament building in Westminster, London, UK. Picture: Nigel J Harris/Shutterstock
National newspaper editors from across the political spectrum have come together to call for the next King’s Speech to include provisions against intimidating legal tactics, known as SLAPPs.
SLAPPs, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, are lawsuits targeting journalists, news organisations, whistleblowers or other groups publishing information in the public interest that are widely regarded as meritless, abusive and aimed at bullying them into silence.
Some 127 media and legal figures have now signed an open letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Justice Secretary David Lammy urging “universal anti-SLAPP provisions” to be included in the next King’s Speech to be held in May.
The letter noted that in the five years since the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition was founded, “SLAPPs have been documented against journalists, tax transparency experts, online reviewers, patients, environmental campaigners, local residents, sexual violence survivors, whistleblowers, academics, tenants, victims groups and advocates, and social media users, to name a few.
“In these cases, wealthy and powerful claimants have misused the British justice system and the costs associated with participating in pre-trial and court proceedings to stifle protected speech and public participation. This is a society-wide issue that requires a society-wide remedy.”
The signatories include the editors of The Guardian (Katharine Viner), Telegraph (Chris Evans), Sunday Telegraph (Allister Heath), The i Paper (Oliver Duff), The Independent (Geordie Greig), Financial Times (Roula Khalaf), Bloomberg (John Micklethwait), Reuters (Alessandra Galloni), The Economist (Zanny Minton Beddoes), Prospect (Philip Collins) and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (Franz Wild).
[Read more: PRs need to stop being complicit in suppression of information via SLAPPs ]
Other senior media figures to have signed the letter include Times Media chairman John Witherow, Reach chief content officer David Higgerson, former Guardian and Prospect editor Alan Rusbridger and Index on Censorship chief executive Jemimah Steinfeld.
Journalists who have directly faced libel lawsuits themselves who signed the letter include The Nerve co-founder and former Observer writer Carole Cadwalladr , Catherine Belton , the Washington Post Russia reporter and former FT journalist who wrote the book Putin’s People, Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, and Guardian investigative reporter Tom Burgis who wrote the book Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World.
Mill Media founder and editor Joshi Herrmann said: “It’s far too easy for bad actors to abuse the law in the UK in order to bully media companies and suppress public interest journalism. Mill Media has been threatened by wealthy and powerful people several times in the past few years, and we often receive legal threats that are clearly designed to stop us publishing accurate and important stories.
“The Government needs to keep its promises and pass strong anti-SLAPP rules fast to protect the free press, one of this country’s most valuable legacies.”
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA), which came into effect in 2023, contains mechanisms to strike out abusive claims early and protect defendants from punitive costs but only when in relation to publication about economic crime.
The letter said ECCTA was “a welcome and official recognition of the problem, [but] the provisions are both limited in scope and flawed in approach”.
- Lammy said last month that the Government
- planned further action on SLAPPs
- “We’ll protect the people who shine a light on corruption in the first place, the journalists and activists who shield the public’s right to know.
“By stopping the powerful from using abusive lawsuits – so-called ‘SLAPPs’ – to intimidate reporters, silence investigations, and bury the truth under a mountain of legal threats. Because sunlight is always the best disinfectant.”
The letter said in response: “We agree. Now is the time to turn rhetoric into action. By bringing forward universal anti-SLAPP measures in the next King’s Speech, Parliament will finally be given the opportunity to establish robust, accessible and universal protections against abusive legal
threats and actions.”
The letter continued: “It is the Government’s duty to protect us from this system being weaponised against free expression and everyone’s ability to participate fully in society. However, without an effective early dismissal mechanism, an objective test for filtering SLAPPs out of court, and the ability to minimise costs and penalise bad conduct, courts and judges do not have the tools or guidance they need.
“At a time of unprecedented pressure on our judicial system, court resources should not be wasted on SLAPPs, which are by definition an abuse of the court process.”
In November 2024, a House of Lords inquiry into how the news industry can survive into the future accused the Government of “failing to prioritise” action on SLAPPs.
Full list of signatories to January 2026 anti-SLAPP letter
John Witherow , Chairman, Times Media Ltd
Katharine Viner , Editor-in-Chief, The Guardian
Chris Evans , Editor, The Telegraph
Allister Heath , Editor, Sunday Telegraph
Roula Khalaf , Editor, The Financial Times
Geordie Greig , Editor-in-Chief, The Independent
Oliver Duff , Editor-in-Chief, The i Paper
Alessandra Galloni , Editor-in-Chief, Reuters News
John Micklethwait , Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg
David Higgerson , Chief Content Officer, Reach PLC
Zanny Minton Beddoes , Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
Philip Collins , Editor, Prospect Magazine
Jemimah Steinfeld , CEO, Index on Censorship
Franz Wild , CEO and Editor-in-Chief, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)Chrissie Giles, Deputy Editor, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)
Katie Mark , Deputy Editor, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)
Joshi Herrmann , Founder and Editor, Mill Media
Calum Grewar , Local Editor, The Glasgow Bell & Mill Media
Dan Hayes , Founder, The Tribune
Abi Whistance , Editor, The Post
Leigh Baldwin , Editor-in-chief, SourceMaterial
Carole Cadwalladr , Investigative journalist and co-founder of The Nerve
Clare Rewcastle Brown , Investigative journalist and founder, The Sarawak Report
Peter Geoghegan , Author, journalist and founder of Democracy for Sale
Paul Radu , Co-Founder and Chief of Innovation, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)
Drew Sullivan , Co-Founder and Publisher, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)
Gerard Ryle , Executive Director and President, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Paul Lewis , Head of Investigations, The Guardian
Juliette Garside , European Financial Affairs Editor, the Guardian
Isabel Hilton , Co-Chair Board, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)
Richard Sambrook , Co-Chair Board, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)
Eleanor Rose , Enablers Editor, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)
Lawyers and other legal professionals
Nicki Schroeder , Group General Counsel, Reach PLC
Pia Sarma , Editorial Legal Director, Times Newspapers Ltd
David E. McCraw , Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, The New York Times Company
Jason P. Conti , General Counsel, EVP, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Sayra Tekin , General Counsel, News Media Association
Gavin Millar KC , Barrister, Matrix Chambers
Marc Willers KC , Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Keio Yoshida , Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
Rupert Cowper-Coles , Head of Media, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) LLP
Samantha Thompson , Senior Associate, RPC LLP
Alex Littlewood , Senior Associate, RPC LLP
Caroline Kean , Solicitor, independent media consultant
Matthew Dando , Partner, Wiggin LLP Adelaide Scardino Lopez, Senior Associate, Wiggin LLP
Matthew Jury , Managing Partner, McCue Jury and Partners
Ian Rosenblatt OBE , Founder & Senior Partner, Rosenblatt Law
Matthew Gill , Defamation Solicitor, Good Law Project
Gillian Phillip s, Freelance editorial content lawyer
David S. Korzenik , Partner, Miller Korzenik Rayman LLP
Laura R. Handman , Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Laura Lee Prather , Partner, Haynes Boone
Journalists and writers
Catherine Belton MBE , Author of Putin’s People and Russia reporter, Washington Post
Alan Rusbridger , Journalist, former Editor of The Guardian and Prospect Magazine
Edward Lucas , Author, European and transatlantic security consultant and fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA)
Tom Burgis , Investigative reporter, The Guardian and author of Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World
Eliot Higgins , Open source investigator and SLAPP target
Paul Caruana Galizia , Investigative reporter, Financial Times
George Greenwood , Investigations reporter, The Times
Sean O’Neill , Senior Writer, The Times
Cat Neilan , Whitehall Editor of The Observer
Tom Bergin , Author and Reuters investigative journalist
Jenna Corderoy , Investigative reporter, Democracy for Sale
Thomas Rowley , Investigative journalist
Matei Rosca , Investigative journalist and owner of the website reporter.london.
Jack Adamović Davies , Investigative journalist 4
Simon Lock , Enablers Senior Reporter, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)
Lucy Nash , Enablers Senior Impact Producer, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ)
Academics
Dr. Peter Coe , Associate Professor in Law, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham
Rebecca Moosavian , Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Leeds
Richard Moorhead , Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Exeter, Professor of Law, Monash University and Honorary Professor, UCL Faculty of Laws, London
John Heathershaw , Professor of International Relations, University of Exeter
Thomas Mayne , Research Fellow, DPIR, University of Oxford
Tena Prelec , Lecturer, University of Rijeka, and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Exeter
Laura T. Murphy , Professor of Human Rights and Contemporary Slavery, Sheffield Hallam University
Robert Barrington , Professor of Anti-Corruption Practice, Centre for the Study of Corruption, University of Sussex
Dr. Claire Elder , Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Relations, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne
Dr. Francesca Farrington , Lecturer, School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool Professor
Jackie Harrison , Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield
Dr. Gemma Horton , Impact Fellow for Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield
Laura Davison , General Secretary, National Union of Journalists (NUJ)
Dawn Alford , Chief Executive, Society of Editors
Owen Meredith , Chief Executive, News Media Association
Emilia Díaz-Struck , Executive Director, Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)
Jodie Ginsberg , Chief Executive Officer, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
William Horsley , UK Chairman, Association of European Journalists
Felicity Garvey , UK Advocacy Officer, Reporters Without Borders
Sarah Baxter , Director, Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting
Romana Cacchioli , Executive Director, PEN International
Daniel Gorman , Director, English PEN 5
Dominic Williams , Chair, Wales PEN Cymru
Menna Elfyn , President, Wales PEN Cymru
Ricky Monahan Brown , President, Scottish PEN
Flutura Kusari , Legal Advisor, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Vafa Fati-Zade , Trustee, Justice for Journalists Foundation
Publishers and publishing associations
Dan Conway , CEO, Publishers Association
José Borghino , Secretary General, International Publishers Association
Joanna Prior , CEO, Pan Macmillan
Arabella Pike , Publisher, William Collins
Civil society organisations and representatives
Sir William Browder KCMG, Head, Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign
Matthew Caruana Galizia , Director, Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation
Dan Neidle , Founder, Tax Policy Associates
Daniel Bruce, Chief Executive, Transparency International (UK)
Areeba Hamid , Co-Executive Director, Greenpeace UK
Will McCallum , Co-Executive Director, Greenpeace UK
Harriet Wistrich , CEO, Centre for Women’s Justice
Verity Nevitt , Co-Founder, The Gemini Project
Dame Audrey Glover DBE CMG , Chair of Trustees, Foreign Policy Centre
Sir Trevor Phillips , Chair of Trustees, Index on Censorship
Helen Mountfield KC , Trustee, Index on Censorship
Sybille Raphael , Joint Chief Executive, Protect
Helen Taylor , Deputy Director, Spotlight on Corruption
Nina Cresswell , Writer and SLAPP target
Andrew Burgess , SLAPP target and campaigner
James Nixey , Senior Fellow, Conflict Studies Research Centre, and former Director, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House
Zelda Perkins CBE , Founder, Can’t Buy My Silence UK
Dr. Gavin Hayman , Executive Director, Open Contracting Partnership & Co-Chair, UK Anti-Corruption Coalition
Kevin Keith , Chair, UK Open Government Network
Nicholas Hildyard , Co-Director, The Corner House 6
Alex Prezanti , Co-Executive Director, State Capture Accountability Project
Emily Patterson , Co-Executive Director, State Capture Accountability Project
Mia Paukovic , Senior Coalition Manager, UK Anti-Corruption Coalition
George Freeman , Executive Director, Media Law Resource Center
Carole Ewart , Director, Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland (CFoIS)
Gabriel Šípoš , Senior Legal Manager, International Lawyers Project
Anna Myers , Executive Director, Whistleblowing International Network
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