'Typical of Starmer's Britain!' Labour branded 'anti-free speech' after police doorstep gran over online post: 'Ridiculous!'

In one post on a Facebook group called 4Heatons Hub, Jones said of Councillor David Sedgwick: "Let’s hope he does the decent thing and resigns. I somehow think his ego won’t allow it."

When Jones asked the officers if she had committed any crime, one officer told her "no".

Criticising the latest crackdown on free speech, Director of the Free Speech Union Lord Toby Young claimed the "sinister and ridiculous" investigation into Jones's posts is now "typical of Starmer's Britain".

He told host Ben Leo: "I guess they thought that councillors are particularly at risk in this febrile political moment, there have been a few attacks on elected politicians, so we better go round and have a word with her and advise her that what she said in this chat group has really upset the Labour councillor.

"It feels like they were trying to fire a shot across her bowels at the behest of a local politician who happens to belong to the ruling party. It's almost like a comical version of 1984 - they're the thought police, but they almost turned up in a clown car at her house. It's sort of sinister, but completely ridiculous at the same time. And that's typical I'm afraid of Starmer's Britain."

Comparing the rise in police officers being tasked with investigating non-crime hate incidents rather than larger-scale crimes such as theft, Young highlighted that in most cases, Britons may not see a police officer for "three or four days" after a crime has been committed.

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Young explained: "Everyone knows that if you get burgled or your car is stolen or you want to report a mugging, it's actually quite hard to persuade the police to send anyone round to your house. They give you a crime reference number and tell you there's not much they can do. And if you're lucky, someone turns up three or four days later.

"So for these two plainclothes officers to be dispatched to this grandmother's house, seemingly because the partner of this Labour councillor that she was only very mildly criticising in a sort of community chat group, has complained to the police."

Criticising the "intimidating" nature of the investigation by the two police officers, Young cautioned that Britons are "increasingly terrified" of "ending up in prison over hurty words".

Young said: "Given that people are finding themselves being prosecuted, in some cases being sent to prison for hurty words on social media in message groups, it's not surprising that this grandmother was pretty terrified when these police officers turned up and told her that there'd been a complaint.

"They took it seriously enough to come round to her house, so it's not surprising that she was pretty intimidated by this, and I think there is this nasty, intimidating tone that really got abroad since Labour became the Government."

He concluded: "And people are now petrified that if they say the wrong thing, if a member of the ruling party complains that they've expressed an opinion that they don't like, that they could end up in prison, which is not where we should be in no birthplace of parliamentary democracy."

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "We spoke to the woman for six minutes to advise she was the subject of a complaint of harassment and to answer any questions she may have. No further action is necessary as no crime has been committed. We are under a duty to inform her that she is the subject of a complaint.

"The genuine threats that have been made to local councillors recently have meant it has been more necessary to ensure all reports are looked at. On this day, officers were making 203 arrests for crimes like assault, burglary and rape. Tackling these priorities are why the complaint was dealt with two days after it was reported."