UK Politics

Parents and children can expect to “experience a different internet for the first time”, according to the Technology Secretary as new safety measures came into effect.Peter Kyle said he had “high expectations” for the changes, as the head of the regulator in charge of enforcement against social media platforms which do not comply urged the public to “judge us by the impact we secure”.While some campaigners have welcomed the new protections – which include age checks to prevent children accessing pornography and other harmful content – others have branded them a “sticking plaster”.Charities and other organisations working in the sector of children’s safety have agreed the key will be ensuring the measures are enforced, urging Ofcom to “show its teeth”.The changes also require platforms to ensure algorithms do not work to harm children by, for example, pushing such content on the likes of self harm and eating disorders towards them.Actions which could be taken against firms which fail to adhere to the new codes include fines of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater, and court orders potentially blocking access in the UK.Mr Kyle has said a generation of children will not be allowed to grow up “at the mercy of toxic algorithms” as he pledged the Government is laying the foundations for a safer, healthier, more humane online world and warned tech firms “will be held to account” if they fail to act in line with the changes.He told Sky News: “I have very high expectations of the change that children will experience.“And let me just say this to parents and children, you will experience a different internet really, for the first time in from today, moving forward than you’ve had in the past. And that is a big step forward.”The measures, as part of the Online Safety Act and set to be enforced by regulator Ofcom, require online platforms to have age checks – using facial age estimation or credit card checks – if they host pornography or other harmful content such as self-harm, suicide or eating disorders.Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said the regulator’s research had shown half a million eight to 14-year-olds have come across pornography online in the last month alone.When it was put to her by the BBC that one of their staff members testing out the new measures had been able to sign up to a well-known porn site on Friday using just an email address, she said sites will be “checking patterns of email use” behind the scenes to verify users are adults.She told Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’ve shown that we’ve got teeth and that we’re prepared to use them at Ofcom. And we have secured commitments across the porn industry and from the likes of X that no other country has secured. These things can work.“Judge us by the impact we secure. And absolutely, please do tell us if you think there’s something we need to know about that isn’t working because the law is very clear now.”She also said the Government is right to be considering limits on the amount of time children can spend on social media apps.Earlier this week, Mr Kyle said he wanted to tackle “compulsive behaviour” and ministers are reportedly considering a two-hour limit, with curfews also under discussion.Dame Melanie told LBC: “I think the Government is right to be opening up this question. I think we’re all a bit addicted to our phones, adults and children, obviously particularly a concern for young people. So, I think it’s a good thing to be moving on to.”Children’s charities the NSPCC and Barnardo’s are among those who have welcomed the new checks in place from Friday, as well as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).The IWF warned the “safeguards put in place need to be robust and meaningful” and said there is “still more to be done”, as they urged tech platforms to to build in safeguards rather than having them as “an afterthought”.The Molly Rose Foundation – set up by bereaved father Ian Russell after his 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life having viewed harmful content on social media – said there is a “lack of ambition and accountability” in the measures, and accused the regulator of choosing to “prioritise the business needs of big tech over children’s safety”.Andy Burrows, chief executive of the foundation, told Sky News: “We’ve always had a very simple test for the Online Safety Act, will it stop further young people like Molly from dying because of the harmful design of social media platforms?“And regrettably, we just don’t think it passes that test. This is a sticking plaster, not the comprehensive solution that we really need.”Ofcom said it has also launched a monitoring and impact programme focused on some of the platforms where children spend most time including social media sites Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, gaming site Roblox and video clip website YouTube.The sites are among those which have been asked to submit, by August 7, a review of their efforts to assess risks to children and, by September 30, scrutiny of the practical actions they are taking to keep children safe. More

A record number of farms have closed in the wake of Rachel Reeves’s inheritance tax raid, new figures suggest. In total 6,365 agriculture, forestry and fishing businesses have closed over the past year, the highest since quarterly data was first published in 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics.The chancellor has faced a furious backlash over her decision to extend inheritance tax, which critics warn could sound the death knell for family farms in England.All the major supermarkets have backed the farmers and called on Ms Reeves to halt her controversial ‘tractor tax’ plan. But ministers have ploughed ahead even though the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has warned the policy may raise less than the Treasury hopes, with the £500m-a year-revenue forecast given a “high” uncertainty rating and likely to fall after seven years. Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary, said the latest figures showed farm closures were a result of “Labour’s disastrous tax policies”. Farmers protest in Westminster over changes to inheritance tax rules (Jonathan Brady/PA) More

The UK should recognise the state of Palestine while there is still a Palestine left, a powerful Commons committee has told Keir Starmer. The foreign affairs select committee said the UK’s actions over the ongoing conflict and “in the years preceding, have often been too little, too late,” as they called for further sanctions “against settlers”.It comes as Keir Starmer has issued his strongest condemnation yet of Israel’s starvation of Gaza and hinted he is edging closer to recognising a Palestinian state,More than 100 rights groups and charities have demanded unfettered aid to the besieged enclave as warnings of starvation grow. In a new report the committee said Israel must open all crossing points to food, medical, materials for shelter and other aid to Gaza. Smoke billows from an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday More

Keir Starmer is set to have an emergency call with his closest allies as he condemned that “unspeakable and indefensible” unfolding crisis in Gaza.The prime minister appeared to have lost his remaining patience with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government as he used his strongest language yet to condemn the deliberate starvation of thousands of Palestinians trapped in Gaza.And as he prepared to hold an emergency call with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday, Sir Keir appeared to be on the cusp of being prepared to recognise a Palestinian state.It comes as starvation in Gaza is reported to have dramatically increased in recent days; most of the 113 hunger-related deaths recorded there have come in recent weeks, and 82 were children, according to Palestinian health officials.Starmer has condemned the starvation of Gaza More

A generation of children will not be allowed to grow up “at the mercy of toxic algorithms”, the Technology Secretary said as new online safety protections came into force.Peter Kyle said the Government was laying the foundations for a safer, healthier, more humane online world, as he warned tech firms they “will be held to account” if they fail to adhere to the measures.The changes, as part of the Online Safety Act and set to be enforced by regulator Ofcom, require online platforms to have age checks in place – using facial age estimation or credit card checks – if they host pornography or other harmful content such as self-harm, suicide or eating disorders.They also require platforms to ensure algorithms do not work to harm children by, for example, pushing such content towards them when online.Actions which could be taken against firms which fail to comply with the new codes include fines of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater, and court orders potentially blocking access in the UK.Campaigners have warned the measures must be enforced strictly, with the NSPCC urging Ofcom to “show its teeth” if companies fail to make changes in line with the regulator’s protection of children codes.But the Molly Rose Foundation – set up by bereaved father Ian Russell after his 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life having viewed harmful content on social media – said there is a “lack of ambition and accountability” in the measures, and accused the regulator of choosing to “prioritise the business needs of big tech over children’s safety”.Mr Kyle insisted the Government has “drawn a line in the sand” and that the codes will bring real change.He said: “This Government has taken one of the boldest steps anywhere in the world to reclaim the digital space for young people – to lay the foundations for a safer, healthier, more humane place online.“We cannot – and will not – allow a generation of children to grow up at the mercy of toxic algorithms, pushed to see harmful content they would never be exposed to offline. This is not the internet we want for our children, nor the future we are willing to accept.”He said the time for tech platforms “to look the other way is over”, calling on them to “act now to protect our children, follow the law, and play their part in creating a better digital world”.He warned: “And let me be clear: if they fail to do so, they will be held to account. I will not hesitate to go further and legislate to ensure that no child is left unprotected.”Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes has previously defended criticism of the reforms, insisting that tech firms are not being given much power over the new measures, which will apply across the UK.Dame Melanie said: “Prioritising clicks and engagement over children’s online safety will no longer be tolerated in the UK.“Our message to tech firms is clear – comply with age checks and other protection measures set out in our codes, or face the consequences of enforcement action from Ofcom.”The regulator said X, formerly Twitter, and others including Bluesky, Reddit and dating app Grindr are among those to have committed to age assurances, and described its safety codes as demanding that algorithms “must be tamed and configured for children so that the most harmful material is blocked”.It said it has launched a monitoring and impact programme focused on some of the platforms where children spend most time including social media sites Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, gaming site Roblox and video clip website YouTube.The sites are among those which have been asked to submit, by August 7, a review of their efforts to assess risks to children and, by September 30, scrutiny of the practical actions they are taking to keep children safe.Chris Sherwood, chief executive at the NSPCC, said: “Children, and their parents, must not solely bear the responsibility of keeping themselves safe online. It’s high time for tech companies to step up.”He said if enforcement is “strong”, the codes should offer a “vital layer of protection” for children and young people when they go online, adding: “If tech companies fail to comply, Ofcom must show its teeth and fully enforce the new codes”.Echoing this, Barnardo’s children’s charity said the changes are “an important stepping stone” but “must be robustly enforced”.England’s Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, said Friday “marks a new era of change in how children can be protected online, with tech companies now needing to identify and tackle the risks to children on their platforms or face consequences”, and said the measures must keep pace with emerging technology to make them effective in the future.But Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, said: “This should be a watershed moment for young people but instead we’ve been let down by a regulator that has chosen to prioritise the business needs of big tech over children’s safety.”He said the “lack of ambition and accountability will have been heard loud and clear in Silicon Valley”.He added: “We now need a clear reset and leadership from the Prime Minister. That means nothing less than a new Online Safety Act that fixes this broken regime and firmly puts the balance back in favour of children.”Earlier this week, Mr Kyle said children could face a limit on using social media apps to help them “take control of their online lives”.He said he wanted to tackle “compulsive behaviour” and ministers are reportedly considering a two-hour limit, with curfews also under discussion.The Cabinet minister said he would be making an announcement about his plans for under-16s “in the near future”. More

Former British Labour Party leader Jermy Corbyn said Thursday he is forming a new left-leaning political party to advocate “mass redistribution of wealth and power” and take on his former colleagues at the ballot box.The new formation has a website — yourparty.uk — but does not yet have a name.“It’s your party,” Corbyn said. “We’re going to decide (a name) when we’ve had all the responses, and so far the response rate has been massive.”Corbyn said he hoped the new party would have its inaugural conference in the fall. Corbyn, 76, led Labour to election defeats in 2017 and 2019, but the veteran socialist campaigner remains popular with many grassroots supporters. and the new party has the potential to further fragment British politics. The long-dominant Labour and Conservative parties now have challengers on both left and right, including the environmentalist Green Party and hard-right Reform UK.Plans for a new party emerged earlier this month when lawmaker Zarah Sultana, who has been suspended from Labour for voting against the government, said she would “co-lead the founding of a new party” with Corbyn.At the time, Corbyn did not confirm the news.On Thursday he denied the party launch had been messy, saying the process was “democratic, it’s grassroots and it’s open.”A longtime supporter of the Palestinians and critic of Israel, Corbyn was suspended from Labour in 2020 after Britain’s equalities watchdog found anti-Jewish prejudice had been allowed to spread within Labour while he was leader. He was suspended after failing to fully accept the findings¸ claiming opponents had exaggerated the scale of antisemitism in Labour for “political reasons.”Corbyn was reelected to Parliament last year as an independent.Prime Minister Keir Starmer succeeded Corbyn as Labour leader in 2020 and dragged the party back toward the political center ground. He dropped Corbyn’s opposition to Britain’s nuclear weapons, strongly backed sending weapons to Ukraine and stressed the party’s commitment to balancing the books.Starmer won a landslide election victory a year ago, but has struggled to maintain unity among Labour lawmakers as the government struggles to get a sluggish economy growing and invest in overstretched public services. He has been forced into a series of U-turns by his own lawmakers, including one on welfare reform that left his authority severely dented. More

Sir Keir Starmer has been warned he must act now to save a generation of “lost boys” from the toxic online ideas peddled by the likes of self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate. A new group, backed by the Brighton & Hove Albion FC chief executive Paul Barber and Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, has called on the government to intervene to protect young men from harmful influences online. Prosecutors say former kickboxer and social media influencer Tate faces a list of charges when he is returned to the UK, including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking, but that “domestic criminal matters” in Romania must be settled first.His lawyers say he and his brother Tristan will return to Britain to defend themselves against the charges. Andrew Tate More

Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana have confirmed the formation of an as yet unnamed political party to take on Sir Keir Starmer and Labour from the left. The populist outfit, which has been temporarily dubbed Your Party, was announced by the former Labour leader and Ms Sultana on Thursday. Mr Corbyn said it was “time for a new kind of political party – one that belongs to you” and he called for the “mass redistribution of wealth and power”.Zarah Sultana announced plans to set up a new left-wing political party alongside Jeremy Corbyn More