The Society of Editors says on 28 January 2026, marking the 5th anniversary of the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition, 127 representatives from a wide cross section of society co-signed an open letter sent to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer joining the Coalition’s call for anti-SLAPP provisions to be included in the next King’s Speech, expected in May.
While the Prime Minister, and other members of his Cabinet, have spoken out about SLAPPs and the need to address them, no new legislation has been brought forward under the current Government. As the letter outlines, while the inclusion of anti-SLAPP measures in the 2023 Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) was a welcome and official recognition of the problem, the provisions are both limited in scope and flawed in approach. Parliamentary time must be given to advance universally applicable, and robust, anti-SLAPP measures to ensure our courts can no longer be abused by those seeking to avoid the sort of scrutiny that sustains democracy.
Alongside the Society, signatories to the letter include: editors and leaders of outlets including The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, The FT, Reach PLC, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Independent, The Economist and Mill Media as well as legal experts including Reach PLC’s General Counsel, New York Times’ Deputy General Counsel, Dow Jones General Counsel and The Times Editorial Legal Director.
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.”
The letter to the Prime Minister can be read in full here.
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