The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned against trying to “legislate ourselves to good behaviour”, insisting Government regulation alone cannot be the answer to protecting freedom of speech.

The Most Rev Justin Welby told peers that “fear of reprisal”, “distortion of truth” and the “dehumanisation” of people others disagree with are three “major threats” to freedom of speech, adding he was in favour of a “maximalist and communitarian” approach.

He recalled a columnist suggesting they hoped he would be “mugged at knife point by a gang of refugees”, adding: “I did not feel threatened or for that matter offended.

“Not only because I doubt many refugees are avid readers of his column, but because, like my predecessors, I stand here in a position of privilege – which though it makes me noticed, also confers security.”

Mr Welby, leading a House of Lords debate on challenges to freedom of speech, highlighted the struggles faced without such privileges before telling peers: “Our understanding of the importance of freedom of speech and the threat to it needs to keep pace with the threat to its existence. Government regulation alone cannot be the answer.

“I welcome the Government’s moves to tackle online harms, but while we can protect those most at risk, we cannot – and should not – be trying to legislate ourselves to good behaviour.

“Dr Martin Luther King said that we cannot restrain hatred, but we can restrain haters. That is the limit of law.

“Fittingly robust and vehement debate should characterise our national life.

“Online harms bills or cancel culture being itself cancelled cannot make us obey the command to engage with opponents as people, to face them and to destroy our enemies not with forms of suppression or law but by making them our friends – that is another quote from Dr King.”

The archbishop had to pause at various points as he delivered his speech due to a cough, but he earlier insisted he had caught his granddaughter’s cold and reassured peers he had been “tested to the limits of testing”.