ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 makes a series of recommendations for combating hate speech by political figures. We begin by outlining and rejecting some arguments in favour of the status quo and then provide a test for any measures based on normative political legitimacy, that is, whether they can command the hypothetical consent of the governed. We then propose several legal measures (enact hate speech laws that apply without fear or favour to political figures, revise existing hate speech laws to remove accommodations made for public or political figures, disapply parliamentary privilege to hate speech laws, create new guidelines on sentencing for hate speech offences, enact some bespoke hate speech laws for hyperpolitical speech), some quasi-legal measures (regulating hyperpolitical hate speech through parliamentary codes of conduct, codes of conduct adopted by political parties, Internet regulations) and some complementary and/or transitional measures (withdrawal of monetary support for some political parties, mandatory anti-hatred pledges for parliamentarians, mandatory anti-hatred training for parliamentarians and political candidates, right of reply procedures in parliament). In the conclusion we provide some reasons why political figures might accept laws and rules restricting their use of hate speech, and we reject the idea that hate speech laws should only apply to political figures.
