(Recasts throughout with police statement) By William James LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) – London's Metropolitan Police said on Monday they would no longer investigate what are known as "non-crime hate incidents", allowing officers to focus on criminal cases instead of policing "toxic culture war debates". The decision was announced shortly after Graham Linehan, the Irish co-creator of TV comedy show "Father Ted", said he would face no further action following his high-profile arrest earlier this year in relation to posts about transgender issues on X. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government has faced repeated accusations from critics – including U.S. billionaire and owner of the X social media platform Elon Musk – that the state is curtailing free expression. In Britain, non-crime hate incidents are classed as cases where one person's actions are perceived by another to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards people with a particular characteristic. "The Commissioner has been clear he doesn't believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates," Monday's Met statement said, citing comments made in September by Britain's most senior police chief Mark Rowley in response to criticism of Linehan's arrest. Linehan, who has been a vocal critic of transgender activism in recent years, said in September he had been arrested at London's Heathrow Airport on suspicion of inciting violence after arriving in Britain from the United States. "The police have informed my lawyers that I face no further action in respect of the arrest at Heathrow," Linehan, 57, said in a post on X on Monday. His arrest gained widespread attention after it was seized on by free speech advocates. It was referred to by Nigel Farage, the leader of the populist Reform UK party, in evidence he gave to a U.S. House of Representatives committee in September in a hearing on free speech threats. Starmer, whose government introduced laws regulating social media companies, has said free speech must be fiercely protected, but that there are limits in some cases. The Met has said its change in policy would help officers interpret current laws. "We believe this will provide clearer direction for officers, reduce ambiguity and enable them to focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations," the statement said. (Reporting by William James; editing by Michael Holden and Rosalba O'Brien)
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