Leading pollster Sir John Curtice has warned that free speech is being curbed unnecessarily in Britain. Sir John, who is professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, has been examining the state of political debate and free speech.

He said: “It’s definitely got trickier,” he says. “Social media does enable people to create their own bubbles, but I think the problem one is always dealing with on free speech is it’s always going to be free speech up to a point because certain things people say may cause harm. The question to ask is are we at risk of drawing the line a little too far in the direction of concern about harm?"

He sounded an alert on a chilling of free speech.

"We’re now in a situation where people very rapidly go ‘homophobic, homophobic, homophobic’ so maybe we just hang back here. We’re become more liberal as a society but we’ve become less tolerant of illiberal attitudes.”

Sir John also drew a comparison between debates over same sex marriage 20 years ago and today's controversies over trans rights, which played a part in the downfall of Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf as First Ministers.

He said: “Most people’s view is that if a man wants to wear a dress, that’s fine. So social transition is not controversial; it’s just the question of the legal situation and going into loos. When you look at the structure of the attitudes on transgender, it’s very similar to attitudes to same-sex relationships about 20 years ago.”

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The question for Sir John is whether the trans debate is in reverse, and raises the case of Isla Bryson, the male-born rapist who was sent to a women’s prison.

“We know that attitudes on trans have moved against making it easier for people,” he says.

“The critical feminists have the had the better of the argument. The question we have to ask is whether Isla Bryson is an Aids moment. The Aids scare moved public opinion for a while against same-sex relationships in the late 80s. The point is will it necessarily indicate the long term trend, as Aids did not, or is it the case that eventually we will get more liberal?”

Sir John will be discussing his chapter on the 1997 election in British General Election Campaigns 1830–2019 at the Boswell Book Festival on May 11 at 6.30pm. For more information, see www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk