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Speakers’ Corner Trust is a registered charity which promotes free expression, public debate and active citizenship as a means of revitalising civil society in the UK and supporting its development in emerging democracies.

SCT’s approach is based on the belief that association between citizens and the free, face-to-face exchange of ideas, information and opinions – with each other as well as with the decision-takers among them – is a key to rebuilding trust and participation in Britain’s civil society and developing vibrant civil institutions and robust rights in emerging democracies.


  • Programmes & Projects

    SCT currently has three core programmes. To date it has focused principally on the development of local Speakers’ Corner projects in the UK which it is hoped will over time form a growing national network. However, SCT also has an international programme which it launched in 2009 with a major national initiative in Nigeria. Finally, SCT is developing an educational programme to provide a range of resources for senior secondary school students and adult citizens emphasising the importance and showcasing the techniques of active and vocal citizenship.

    Read more about SCT’s programmes and projects.

  • Special Initiatives & Resources

    SCT has formed a number of partnerships with major organisations through which it is able to pursue special initiatives which it could not undertake alone. It has, for example, worked with the Southbank Centre on the production of Speaking Out, a download designed to provide an introduction to the basic skills required for speaking in public, and with Central St Martins College of Art & Design, part of the University of the Arts London, on the design of prototype Speakers’ Corners.

    Read More »

  • News

    • SCT Publishes Debate on Drug Legalisation

      In the latest in SCT’s online Forum for Debate series published on 30 July, two of the UK’s leading experts on the misuse of drugs debate the implications of the legalisation of the drugs trade.

      In “Legalising the Drugs Trade: Reducing Crime or Increasing Addiction?” Danny Kushlik, Head of Policy and Communications at Transform Drug Policy Foundation argues that far from reducing drug misuse, prohibition “has created, at $320 billion a year, the second largest criminal market, displaced health policy with enforcement, caused the ‘balloon effect’ which moves the trade in drugs around the world but never eliminates it and created an environment where drug users are discriminated against and stigmatised”. He calls instead for “a system of strict control and regulation for the most toxic and dependence inducing drugs and a lighter tough regulation for the less powerful drugs” and concludes that “bringing illegal drugs into regulatory regimes will definitely reduce overall harm, and could in fact, reduce the availability of drugs. Pharmacists are vastly better controlled than the user/dealer with the reinforced door, pit bull and hand gun.”

      But Professor Neil McKeganey, Director of the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at Glasgow University, argues that “drugs don’t become harmful because they are illegal; they are illegal because they are harmful”. While he acknowledges that current drugs laws inevitably contribute to a lucrative criminal trade, he warns that “legalisation is no more the answer to that problem than removing household locks is the answer to domestic burglary” and that legalising drugs could lead to a tenfold increase in the level of heroin addiction without reducing the acute problems associated with it: “in the UK some 400,000 children are being brought up in homes with addict parents. Legalisation of illegal drugs would not help those children; it would simply mean that their addicted parents now had a legal supplier to turn to.”

      The full debate can be accessed at (http://www.speakerscornertrust.org/forum/forum-for-debate/).

      Read More »

    • Speakers’ Corner to Mark Leicester’s Local Democracy Week

      SCT is working with Leicester City Council and other local partners, including public services, the education sector, voluntary organisations, community groups and the business community, to organise a range of events during the course of Local Democracy Week in October. The aim of the programme will be to involve as wide as possible a cross section of Leicester’s communities in debating a range of issues of importance to them, provide platforms for sectors of Leicester’s community which are seldom heard and create opportunities for constructive engagement between the public and local decision takers.

      Consultation with key stakeholders is under way and a programme of events will be developed over the coming weeks.

      Read More »

    • SCT’s Newsletter Published

      SCT has published the latest edition of its bulletin News from Speakers’ Corner Trust which reports progress over the last six months on a range of SCT’s projects – including those in Bristol, Herefordshire, Lichfield, Lincoln, Nottingham, Walthamstow and Nigeria – and on programmes such as our new online Forum for Debate which has already featured debates about NHS charging, the size of the state and electoral reform and will shortly explore the arguments for and against the legalisation of the drugs trade.

      You can find all SCT’s newsletters on the Library page.

      Read More »

  • Legalising the Drugs Trade: Reducing Crime or Increasing Addiction?

    SCT has published (on 30 July) the fourth debate in its online Forum for Debate series.

    For many legalising the trade in drugs would be unthinkable. But among those who have first-hand experience of combating drug misuse, there is a growing number who believe that legalisation not only offers the best means of taking organised crime out of the supply chain but would also save billions of pounds in policing costs. Other experts disagree, arguing that more accessible drugs will increase addiction, that the savings are overstated and that the drug gangs will simply undercut legal supplies in order to retain their grip on trafficking.

    Danny Kushlik of Transform and Prof Neil McKeganey join the debate.

    Read the debate »

  • Speaking Out

    Speaking Out is a new film jointly commissioned by SCT and the Southbank Centre which seeks to provide inspiration and encouragement to people who have opinions and ideas to communicate - and we need to hear - but perhaps lack the confidence or experience to express publicly.

    The fifteen minute film features campaigners, performers and politicians including poet Lemn Sissay, Justice Secretary Jack Straw and rock singer Natascha Eleanoré who share some of the basic skills they've learned from their own experiences.

    View the Film »

  • Get in Touch

    If you'd like to start your own local Speakers' Corner project, or let us know your suggestions for future SCT activities, comment on this website or join our mailing list, please do get in touch. Just click here for our contact details and to subscribe.

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