Law banning insulting language 'is strangling free speech'

While it was right to protect people against unjust discrimination and the incitement of violence against them, the campaign said, insulting behaviour was open to too much interpretation.

The campaign is using the slogan ''Feel free to insult me''.

Mr Davis said repeal was ''vital to protecting freedom of expression in Britain today''.

''Who should decide who is insulted? The police? A judge? The truth is that Section 5 is having a terrible, chilling effect on democracy today.''

A ComRes poll commissioned by the campaign suggested he would have the backing of a clear majority of MPs - with 62% saying it should not be for the state to ban insults.

Only 17% thought repeal would undermine the ability of the police to protect the public and one in five believed it would penalise minorities.

The campaign has secured a rare alliance of secularist and Christian groups.

Keith Porteous Wood, of the National Secular Society, said: ''Free speech is not free if it is available only to some and not others.

''Secularists, in defending free expression, must ensure that the law is fair to everybody and argue equally for the right of religious and non-religious people to freely criticise and exchange opinions without fear of the law - unless they are inciting violence.''

The Christian Institute's Simon Calvert said: ''Churches around the world find themselves in constant friction with aspects of the cultures in which they live. So free speech is vital to us all.

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Law banning insulting language 'is strangling free speech'