United Kingdom - Overview

The United Kingdom is a consolidated democracy, in which core civic freedoms of peaceful assembly, free speech, and associational life are guaranteed by law, and generally respected and upheld in practice. A plural media landscape exists, formal and informal associations are generally free to operate without state interference, and peaceful public assemblies are a routine occurrence. In spite of these positives, concerns persist about the possibility for the government’s counter-extremism policies to have negative consequences on associational life, and around violent policing tactics in the management of public assemblies.