UEA votes against NUS policy on fascism

Undergraduates at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have voted against the National Union of Students (NUS) 'no platform for fascists' policy, it has emerged.

Students at the institution have rejected the policy in a referendum, with 75 per cent voting not in favour of the guiding principle which excludes fascists from debates, The Guardian reports.

Leader of the student wing of the Academics For Academic Freedom, Robert Reynolds, told the publication he was delighted at the move.

'This is a proud moment for the students of UEA as well as for people who believe in free speech and democracy everywhere. The cowardice of this NUS policy has gone on too long,' he said.

Mr Reynolds added: 'This is democracy - it's dangerous, but that's what makes it worth doing.'

Earlier in the week, students at the University of Oxford protested at a debate about free speech attended by historian David Irving, who has been jailed in Austria for denying the holocaust, and British National Party Leader Nick Griffith, who has been imprisoned for race crimes.

Mr Reynolds told the paper the protests at Oxford were 'a bit of a publicity stunt'.