UK MP Lisa Smart Denounces $500,000 US Embassy Grant as MAGA Meddling

2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 13

$500,000 in U.S. Embassy funding to promote U.S.-UK shared values, including free speech and due process, drew a rebuke from Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart, who called it “Trump’s MAGA money meddling in democracy.”
The embassy defended the program by saying it had ended Biden-era spending on “divisive ideological projects” such as climate justice and LGBTQ activism, and noted those grants had not prompted similar complaints.
Greg Lukianoff of FIRE backed the grant’s free-speech focus, arguing Britain is in a “free speech disaster” and needs outside help as its laws and policing grow more restrictive.
He pointed to more than 12,000 arrests in 2023 under two U.K. communications laws, plus the use of non-crime hate incident records, as evidence of a broader clampdown.
The clash adds to scrutiny of Washington’s outreach to British conservative and values-based groups after reports that the State Department was planning $12 million in related U.K. grants.