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Boris Johnson is facing claims of backtracking on his pledge for new internet safety laws to be pushed through by ministers before Christmas.

He had said the Online Safety Bill would be considered at second reading – the first time it is debated and voted upon – in the House of Commons ahead of the holidays.

But MPs heard a parliamentary committee examining the proposed legislation is not expected to report back until December, with Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg failing to guarantee second reading would take place pre-Christmas.

For Labour, shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire said: “The prime minister appeared to confirm first that the Online Safety Bill would have completed all stages by Christmas, then it was just going to be second reading, and now it seems No 10 have rowed back even further to a vague commitment that the Bill will be presented at some point during this session. That’s not even before Christmas.

“Could the Leader of the House please help us out here, what is the timetabling for this Bill because the prime minister doesn’t seem to know.” Mr Rees-Mogg replied: “The Online Safety Bill will complete its draft scrutiny in December.”

Labour MP Chi Onwurah then spoke to say: “Can we have a debate on planning and the prime minister so that he will not again announce the date of a critical piece of legislation – the Online Safety Bill – then U-turn on that date within a couple of hours?”

The legislation is expected to force the biggest technology firms, such as Facebook and Google, to abide by a duty of care to users, overseen by Ofcom as the new regulator for the sector. Mr Johnson also insisted it will impose “criminal sanctions with tough sentences” on those responsible for allowing “foul content” on their platforms.

MPs have rejected tougher air pollution limits which would have brought the UK in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance by 2030 and cut exposure to harmful airborne toxins.

The proposal, set out in an amendment to the government’s Environment Bill by peers in the House of Lords, followed the tragic case of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who last year became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as their cause of death, reports our environment correspondent Harry Cockburn.

It would have set a new legal limit for small particulate matter (PM2.5), which is largely generated by diesel engines and woodburning stoves, but MPs voted 307 to 185 to disagree with the amendment and remove the proposal from the Bill.

Instead, the government said a public consultation will take place next year with an aim to introduce new legislation by October to tackle the problem – dashing hopes of having it through in time for Cop26.

Some more commentary from Boris Johnson now, as the PM continued to speak to reporters at a centenary event in Northern Ireland.

Asked about ongoing post-Brexit furore, Mr Johnson said problems with the much-discussed Northern Ireland Protocol need to be flushed out “pretty fast”.

He told reporters:

“We can’t go on forever with this question because it is affecting real people and real lives and real businesses right now because of the way in which the Protocol is being interpreted.

“I don’t think that it is coherent with the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement because the way it is being used is creating these unnecessary checks down the Irish Sea.

“So we need to flush it out pretty fast and we need to change the causes of the problem and not the symptoms and I think we need to move pretty fast.”

Boris Johnson has blamed a failure of people to come forward for booster jabs for the slow rollout of the programme, calling it “a demand issue”.

The NHS and the department of health are both in the firing line for the low number of vaccinations – with Labour claiming two million eligible people have yet to receive an invitation.

But the prime minister insisted there is adequate supply, saying: “It’s a demand issue. We really urge people to come and do it.” He acknowledged case rates are “high” and are rising, after almost 50,000 new infections are recorded each day across the UK – but said his government will be “sticking with our [current] plan”.

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has the full report:

Boris Johnson has said he hopes Sir David Amess’ loved ones “get the justice they deserve as fast as possible” after a 25-year-old man was charged with the Tory MP’s murder.

Speaking at Crumlin Integrated primary school in Northern Ireland, the PM told reporters:

“First thing to say about the charging of that individual is that I hope the family of David Amess and all those who love him will get the justice they deserve as fast as possible.

“Other than that I can’t really comment on the case.

“What I can say is the threat to MPs as the home secretary said yesterday has been elevated a little bit to substantial, but that is in line with the general threat, the terrorist threat level, in the country.”

Mr Johnson said the British public “must not be intimidated by this appalling murder” and allow it to change “the way we conduct our parliamentary business or the way we work in our constituencies”, adding:

“Which I think is the last thing that David Amess would’ve wanted.”

Following a decision to issue 800 temporary visas for foreign butchers, the government has said it is confident there will be enough food available in the UK at Christmas.

As well as butchers, 5,500 visas poultry workers were also invited to come to the UK in the light of labour shortages.

Questioned by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, senior civil servants from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) sought to reassure politicians that the supply chain had stabilised.

David Kennedy, director-general for food, farming and biodiversity at Defra, said uptake of the poultry worker visas had been “pretty good” while his department was “feeling very positive” that all 800 butchers’ visas would be used.

He told MPs:

“I think we’re confident, and if you listened last week to the chief executive of Bernard Matthews he was saying there is enough capacity now in terms of turkeys for Christmas.

“More generally I think there is an HGV issue which is affecting the whole of the food system. We monitor that closely.

“The current supply situation is reasonably stable. It’s not at the ideal level but it’s not in a bad place at all.”

He added that the first poultry workers were expected to arrive in the UK at the beginning of November, with the pig butchers arriving two weeks later. However, Mr Kennedy said the problems in the pig industry would take six months to sort out.