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1. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mohammad Yasin

   Israel and Palestine

   I have been privileged to support Bedford Friends of Al-Walaja and to meet children who, despite the horror they have endured, are full of hopes and dreams for the future. Their village’s only school is now under threat of demolition by the Israeli authorities. I welcome the Government’s action to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements. What intervention can the Foreign Secretary make to protect Al-Walaja co-educational school in the west bank and uphold those children’s rights to education under international law?

   Hansard source
2. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mark Sewards

   Safety of the Jewish Community

   It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet (Catherine West) on securing this important debate. I do not speak today as a member of the Jewish community, or as somebody who can fully understand the experience that many British Jews live with every day, but I have seen a small snapshot of it, from my time at the University of Leeds and throughout my continuing engagement with the Jewish community ever since. At university, I saw some of the challenges faced by Jewish students on campus. More recently, I spoke at the Leeds Leads Against Antisemitism demonstration, where I heard directly from members of the community about the challenges that they are now enduring. It has been a particular issue in recent years, but it is a long-standing problem, as many Members know. I will return to the experience of Jewish students later, because what is happening on our campuses tells us something important about the wider problems we face. The Jewish community in Britain is facing a profound crisis of safety and security. It cannot be said often enough that the first duty of any Government should always be the safety and security of their citizens—we hear it often enough in the Chamber, but it needs to be said again—and that means that the responsibility for protecting the Jewish community cannot rest with the community itself. Nor should Jewish organisations be expected to shoulder the burden alone. The CST is amazing and should of course be well funded, but it cannot fall on the CST to look out for the community every single time. It is the responsibility of us all, and of the Government.

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3. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mark Sewards

   Safety of the Jewish Community

   Goodness me! I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. It is a disgraceful turn of events when people feel confident enough to say something like that on camera, especially if they are not even intoxicated and inebriated, not that that would justify any comments of that nature. That is sickening and it goes to the heart of what we are trying to get to. Because of the way antisemitism has been allowed to flourish, a lot of people now confidently say such things even on camera. It is disgraceful. We need to think about what it means to belong to a society in which we are repeatedly forced to ask whether it is safe to live openly as a Jewish person. The threat is the threat itself; that is the problem, as is the effect it is having on Jewish people who have to live in anticipation of it. Over the past year, Jewish communities have seen attacks on communal organisations and threats against places of worship and institutions, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet set out, alongside appalling levels of antisemitic incidents. The significance of that cannot be measured simply by counting the incidents, because it is changing the everyday, ordinary lives of Jewish people in this country. Familiar places and ordinary routines become questions of security. Precautions that might once have seemed extreme, maybe even paranoid, have instead become reasonable considerations that Jewish people have to make as part of their ordinary daily lives. That is why security outside synagogues, schools and community institutions sadly remains all too essential; why Jewish societies at universities do not always publicise where their events will take place; and why celebrating Jewish life in public can require precautions that few other communities in this country ever have to consider.

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4. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mark Sewards

   Safety of the Jewish Community

   I could not agree more. I will come on to universities in the final part of my speech. The experience of students at the University of Leeds reflects what the hon. Lady said. Security is incredibly important, but our ambition cannot simply be to protect the Jewish people from immediate physical danger. It must also mean being able to live openly and confidently in British society, with a sense of belonging, while being Jewish. That challenge is made even more serious by the actions of hostile states. I welcome the Government’s action on designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps under the newly reformed National Security Act 2023. Designation must be backed up by vigilance and effective enforcement. Ministers have acknowledged in previous statements that Jewish people, alongside dissidents and journalists, are among those most targeted by the Iranian state and the IRGC in particular. I would be grateful if the Minister could set out what further steps are being taken to ensure that hostile states and their proxies cannot intimidate or target British Jewish communal institutions or other organisations in Britain. This is not just some distant foreign policy concern; as we know, we have to live with it every day. Iran has demonstrated its willingness to project threats well beyond its own borders. It also views Jewish communities through the prism of the conflict with Israel, which inevitably creates further concerns for Jewish people here in Britain. Before I come to my point about universities, we have to confront the antisemitism that presents itself as anti-Zionism. Criticism of the Israeli Government is, of course, not inherently antisemitic—of course it is not—but denying Jewish people alone the right to national self-determination, or treating British Jews as responsible for the actions of Israel, is obviously antisemitic. It is anti-Zionist antisemitism and it needs to be called out.

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5. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mark Sewards

   Safety of the Jewish Community

   I could not agree more. That is exactly the sort of behaviour that we have to call out, and it is exactly the sort of behaviour that the Green party is going to have to confront at some point if the party does not want to become infested with the kinds of people we had to deal with in the Labour party between 2015 and 2020. It is important to recognise that the threats facing Jewish people do not exist in neat and separate categories. As we know, online abuse is spilling into the real world. Extremist rhetoric can create an atmosphere in which intimidation becomes normalised, and hostile states will seek to exploit those divisions. The Government’s Protecting What Matters strategy, which was announced back in March, contains important commitments on tackling antisemitism and extremism much more broadly, and obviously I welcome that direction of travel. We now have a new Government and new Ministers in place; it is a test of delivery. I would be grateful if the Minister could provide greater clarity on the timetable for implementing the Protecting What Matters strategy, as there are lots of measures within it, and say how success will be measured. Finally, let me return to the issue I mentioned at the beginning of my speech: antisemitism on university campuses. That is where I first started to become interested in the issue of Israel and Palestine, and the Jewish community in this country.

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6. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mark Sewards

   Safety of the Jewish Community

   I could not agree more. Unfortunately, I am about to share some statistics that underline that problem even further. I secured a debate on antisemitism on university campuses in this Chamber back in June, and I shared findings from the Union of Jewish Students’ “Time for Change” report, which underlines the seriousness of the issue. One in five students—20%—would be reluctant to, or would never, share a house with a Jewish student. One in four students—this is from all students—did not care very much, or at all, if Jewish people were forced to hide their identity. The figures shocked me then and still shock me now. What is happening on our campuses is sickening. This is about so much more than individual incidents. It tells us something about the environment in which Jewish people are having to live their lives in all spheres, including university campuses. Jewish identity should not be something that any student has to explain or justify, and neither should Jewish students be treated as representatives of the Israeli Government simply because they are Jewish. The UJS has put forward practical recommendations in its report, which I urge the Government to consider seriously: they must be implemented. I would be grateful if the Minister set out how the Government might implement those measures, or how they are working across Departments and with universities, the police and Jewish community organisations to ensure a genuinely co-ordinated approach to ensuring that Jewish students are safe on campus. Whether it is a Jewish student on a university campus, a family at a synagogue or a Jewish organisation facing threats from abroad, the principle is the same: British Jews should not have to organise their lives around antisemitism. The British Jewish community is an integral part of our society and national story. They belong here—they always have and always will—and we will always speak up for them.

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7. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mark Sewards

   Israel and Palestine

   I support the Government’s complete opposition to the expansion of E1, and their opposition to the violent settlers who put the two-state solution genuinely at risk. I just want to press the Foreign Secretary further on his comments about BDS. What further specific details can he give this House that these measures will not be interpreted as support for that movement, or indeed—following on from questions from others—spill over into a de facto ban on other Israeli goods? We know that the BDS movement is supported by people who think that the Jewish people and the Jewish people alone have no right to self-determination.

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8. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Mark Sewards

   Health Bill

   Does the Minister accept that the Prime Minister said in July that the sector needed to be regulated and that this continues to be a priority for his Government?

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9. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Luke Myer

   Online Safety

   I echo the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Hyndburn (Sarah Smith) on misinformation and disinformation. We know that hostile states around the world, from Russia to Iran, are actively using social media disinformation as a tool as part of their forward defence strategy to disrupt democracies and sow division. What more will the Government do to address that?

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10. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lucy Rigby

    Topical Questions

    I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her question. She raises a concern about the interaction between matured child trust funds and adult social care assessments. The financial assessment framework to which she refers is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care, but I am, of course, more than happy to facilitate a conversation with her and the relevant departmental Minister.

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11. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lucy Rigby

    Topical Questions

    I want to be really clear about this: people who need in-person banking must be able to access essential services, including those in rural communities. That is exactly why I commissioned the independent review on access to banking services, which will gather data about current access to banking services. It is the Government’s intention for there to be a power in the Financial Services and Markets Bill to allow the Government to act on that review.

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12. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lucy Rigby

    Topical Questions

    Fraud is the most common type of crime in this country, and its impact can be truly devastating for individuals and businesses. That is why this Government are committed to tackling it, including via the doubling of the economic crime levy. The Fisher review made a number of recommendations, including about the role of technology companies. We are considering those recommendations very thoroughly.

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13. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lucy Rigby

    Topical Questions

    I will indeed meet the hon. Member. The issues she identifies are exactly why we had a commitment in our manifesto to work with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs over the course of the Parliament. We are well on track, with 282 banking hubs having already been announced, so we are running way ahead of schedule.

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14. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lorraine Beavers

    Israel and Palestine

    I thank the Foreign Secretary for his action today, demonstrating British leadership on a global stage; I hope he agrees that it is long overdue. Settlement expansion is a project driven by the Israeli state. Will he consider further action such as suspending the UK-Israel trade agreement?

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15. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lizzi Collinge

    Israel and Palestine

    I am glad to see the ban on trade with illegal settlements, for which I and many others have called for a long time. I also welcome the Foreign Secretary’s comments on the safety of British Jews, who are being violently targeted by racists simply for being Jewish. Will he join me in urging the Israeli Government to pull back from their expansionist actions and instead work with us and the international community towards a safe and secure Israel alongside a free, democratic Palestine?

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16. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I beg to move, That this House has considered World Suicide Prevention Day. I am grateful for having secured this debate, Sir Christopher, and it is a pleasure to see you in the Chair for it. This Thursday is World Suicide Prevention Day, an event marked through the World Health Organisation. Each year, 10 September provides a moment for individuals, communities and Governments around the globe to unite behind one clear, unambiguous message: that suicides are preventable.

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17. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I am indeed aware of that work and of the difficulties faced by the farming community, and it is important that we address those. This year, as in the last two years, the theme for World Suicide Prevention Day is “Changing the Narrative on Suicide”, accompanied by a direct call to action to start the conversation.

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18. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I am pleased to hear about that work, and I certainly agree that it is vital that we support all those who are making efforts locally to address the issue of suicide. Changing the narrative means a conscious, collective shift away from the culture of silence, stigma and misunderstanding that has plagued this subject for generations. It requires us to move towards openness, empathy and genuine support, to create an environment where people feel able to speak openly about their distress without fear of judgment. We must reach a point at which talking about suicidal thoughts is met with compassion rather than fear and where seeking help is viewed as a sign of strength.

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19. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I look forward to meeting Alfie’s Squad later today; they are doing a great job on suicide prevention in my hon. Friend’s area. I will come on to the Premier League shortly. I turn to the global statistics. The World Health Organisation calls suicide a “major public health challenge” and estimates that it claims the lives of more than 720,000 people every year. In the UK, the latest Office for National Statistics figures show that in 2024 there were 7,147 deaths registered where the cause was recorded as suicide. We know from the data that men account for three in four of those deaths, and that suicide is the biggest single cause of death for men under the age of 50.

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20. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    Having done some work with the construction sector, I know exactly what my hon. Friend is talking about and how much attention must be paid to that issue. Sadly, my region, the north-east, has the highest number of deaths by suicide. That is not a league table that we want to top. The latest figures put the north-east’s rate at 15.1 deaths per 100,000 people. For men who have been referred to secondary mental health services, it climbs to 157.8 per 100,000. That harsh reality demands urgent, targeted intervention. Whenever we see such statistics in Parliament, we must immediately remind ourselves that there are real people behind the numbers. Each one of those individuals whose life was cut short leaves behind a devastating legacy of grief. The ripple effect of a single suicide spreads relentlessly through families, circles of friends and workplaces, and inflicts severe social and emotional consequences on entire communities.

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21. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I know that campaign, and I met my hon. Friend’s constituent as she pulled her pony along to raise money. She is doing tremendous work in that area. Alongside the immeasurable human cost of suicide, there is a stark economic reality. Extensive statistical work conducted by the Samaritans and provided by Mind calculates the economic cost of a single suicide as roughly £1.46 million. No one in this Chamber would ever wish to reduce a human life to an entry on the Treasury balance sheet, but that figure demonstrates that proper investment in suicide prevention is an economic necessity as well as a clear moral imperative.

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22. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I will mention the hon. Lady’s constituent later; I am aware of the great work that he has done after the loss of his son by suicide. I agree that we all need to get behind that campaign, and I have no doubt that the Prime Minister will be keen to do that too. The statistics paint a bleak picture, but I want to focus on the positive work being done across the UK on and around World Suicide Prevention Day to prevent suicide and change the narrative. There are so many organisations and individuals working to build hope and fighting to reverse these trends, offering real, practical help and support to people who are struggling. When we look at our statutory services, we must recognise the vital role played by our national health service. I pay tribute to the extraordinary dedication of NHS mental health staff, who work under immense pressure every single day to provide compassionate, lifesaving care to those in crisis. But NHS talking therapies and other work can support only those who are successfully referred, and a significant gap remains among those accessing that care. For instance, despite having acute mental health needs, men account for only 36% of referrals to NHS talking therapies. That mismatch shows that, even with the outstanding commitment of frontline clinicians, statutory services cannot carry the weight of suicide prevention alone. They rely on close partnerships with community and voluntary organisations to reach people before they reach crisis.

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23. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I most certainly join my hon. Friend in thanking her local groups for that work. It is good to hear about so much attention being given to Men Walking and Talking in local groups where they can access help. I suppose we should mention Andy’s Man Club as well, which does amazing work across the country to get men talking.

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24. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I thank my hon. Friend for sharing the struggles that he has had; by talking, we can learn more about them and tackle the issue. I certainly join him in thanking Menfulness. People are doing amazing work. I want to talk about Samaritans. Samaritans began in 1953 in the city of London, founded by Chad Varah and arising from his experience of seeing lives lost to suicide—people who had no one to speak to. He advertised a telephone number that those contemplating suicide could call to speak to someone about how they were feeling. That work continues today, and is built on by the many outreach activities and the policy work led by Samaritans. I thank the many Samaritans volunteers who continue to listen and reach out in their local area to prevent suicides, including those in my local Tyneside Samaritans branch. Tomorrow evening, Samaritans will mark World Suicide Prevention Day with a reception in Speaker’s House, held alongside the Premier League. The Premier League is doing excellent work in using the vast reach of football to support men, encouraging open conversations among groups who traditionally do not seek help. The charity Mind has a similar commitment, and it will be marking World Suicide Prevention Day in this House on Thursday morning. I am incredibly proud to sponsor its parliamentary reception this week, which will bring together campaigners, partners and clinicians to champion Mind’s vital work in our communities and to ensure that suicide prevention remains at the very top of our legislative agenda.

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25. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I certainly agree with my hon. Friend’s concerns about the need for action on autism. She may be pleased to hear that the all-party groups on suicide and self-harm prevention and on autism will be doing joint work on the matter in the near future. I thank her for her intervention and am sure that the Minister has heard her request for an update. I will now unashamedly name-check several organisations in the north-east, although I do so with some trepidation because there are so many other groups that I will not be able to mention. We benefit immensely from the presence of the James’ Place charity in Newcastle, which provides specialist, rapid clinical interventions for men in suicidal crisis. The way it operates in our region is saving lives. I highlight the incredible work of If U Care Share, which is based in County Durham. Its roots are embedded in the local community, offering emotional support and postvention care. It was formed from personal experience, following the death by suicide of one of the family, a young man, which I know still affects the family and a much wider group of people, and is still a real impetus for their work and fundraising. I also recognise the charity SoBS, Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide, which provides peer-led support to families who are navigating an uniquely complex and isolating form of grief.

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26. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    The right hon. Gentleman touches on another angle, namely the world of the internet, which provides such a challenge. The work of Ripple is important in preventing that harm, but there is so much more to do. I congratulate Ripple on its award. Jami UK is a Jewish mental health organisation with which I have done a good deal of work; given the subject of our previous debate today, it seems particularly appropriate to mention it. It does fantastic work in London and beyond, and is a regular contributor to the APPG. Individuals have also transformed personal tragedy into relentless campaigning. We have already heard about Philip Pirie, who has worked on an assessment of suicide risk and is now pushing for training on it to be mandatory for NHS staff. The 3 Dads Walking campaign has captured the attention of the entire country. After losing their daughters Sophie, Beth and Emily to suicide, they marched together across the UK to demand that suicide prevention be taught in schools.

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27. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    My hon. Friend makes a really important point. I congratulate those families—“congratulate” does not seem the right word, but they are doing such amazing work in her community and it is really important to mention. My hon. Friend will be pleased to hear that part of the work plan for the APPG relates to the link between suicide and domestic abuse in its various forms. I look forward to working with her on that issue. I mentioned 3 Dads Walking, who do absolutely fantastic work. Changes are being made to the relationships, sex and health education curriculum this year to pick up on that work and ensure that children are able to discuss suicide in a safe and age-appropriate way. Most working adults spend a large part of their day at work, so employers clearly have a role to play. Last year, the British Standards Institution published BS 30480, the first formal standard for workplace suicide prevention. I was pleased to work on it with the BSI alongside employers, trade unions and suicide prevention experts. That guidance has now been downloaded over 13,500 times. However, despite the immense amount of work being done by charities, campaigners and so many others, we have not yet managed to change the narrative completely. I know that I risk sounding like a broken record in this House on the issue, but while the overall figures stubbornly refuse to come down, I will continue to be a broken record. We need to bring the numbers down. As the World Health Organisation says, changing the narrative needs systemic change. As the Mental Health Foundation has argued for years, we need early intervention so that people receive support before their situation becomes acute.

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28. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    World Suicide Prevention Day

    I am not sure I know enough about my hon. Friend’s local area to tell his local ICB what to do, but I am sure he does, and I am sure he is making the case to his local ICB for walk-in centres in his area. The new mental health hubs and emergency centres that were announced over the summer will be a vital step forward, as my hon. Friend says, in providing community-based support through capital funding. I hope that that will be followed by the revenue funding to provide the staff and resources to deliver consistent care, and I hope that the Minister can provide a bit more detail on the revenue question; I welcome her to her new post and am glad that she is here to answer the debate. The national suicide prevention strategy has just passed its halfway point, which makes this the ideal moment to assess what is working and where we need to do more. A great many actions have arisen from the strategy, which I commend, but sadly the numbers have not shifted. For men, who make up 75% of those who die by suicide, how can we address their specific concerns? Can the Minister say what actions will be taken to revise the strategy so that it can achieve its goal of reducing suicides? Can she also say what she will do to ensure that mental health has parity of esteem with physical health, which was the subject of another Westminster Hall debate that I secured not long ago? Will she join me and other Members in thanking all the third sector organisations and individuals who do so much to change the narrative, and recognise their importance in preventing suicide? I hope that she will continue to work closely with me and the APPG to ensure that these strategies deliver the systemic change that we desperately need. On World Suicide Prevention Day, we reflect on what we must do to make a real difference. We can achieve that by ending the silence, funding the services and treating mental health with the urgency that it demands. That is how we will finally change the narrative, and that is how we will save lives.

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29. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Twist

    Health Bill

    I welcome the Bill, and was pleased to be a member of the Bill Committee. I also welcome the Government’s new clauses, about which the Minister has spoken today. New clause 159, to which I have added my name, seeks to address a long-standing legislative omission in our health service. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson) for tabling it. For over a decade since the Health and Social Care Act 2012, Parliament has recognised the principle of parity of esteem between physical and mental health, but without statutory accountability that parity has remained an aspiration rather than a clinical reality. The scale of the problem is clear. NHS data shows that 1.87 million adults and more than 576,000 children and young people currently hold open referrals for mental health services. While the Government set clear targets to reduce physical healthcare waiting lists, mental health services are excluded from these core constitutional ambitions, and the division has severe consequences. A survey conducted by Rethink Mental Illness found that 83% of patients experienced a deterioration in their mental health while waiting for support, and that nearly a third of those whose health worsened attempted suicide. New clause 159 would require the Secretary of State to publish national waiting time standards for mental health services within 12 months of the Bill passing into law. The fact is that what is measured is addressed, so we need to give the same attention to mental health that we rightly give to physical health measures. These standards, which cover both community and urgent care, must be developed in consultation with the chief medical officer. Crucially, the new clause mandates the Secretary of State to report performance against those waiting times, alongside mental health expenditure, to Parliament every year. That will ensure that the funding that we allocate in the House is linked transparently to patient outcomes. If we do not measure waiting times we cannot manage them, and patients will continue to be left until they are in crisis before they receive support. It is time that we started to pay the same attention to mental health as we do to physical health, so that we can really achieve parity of esteem. The Government have set out a welcome and ambitious path to rebuild our NHS, and achieving true parity of esteem is central to that mission. I urge the Minister to look closely at new clause 159 as a constructive measure.

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30. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Liz Kendall

    Online Safety

    I really welcome the announcement made by my right hon. Friend today. It will, indeed, be a world first to take this action on device-level protections, protecting children right across the country, and I am very proud to be part of a party and a Government who are doing that. I also thank her for confirming that the vote on the ban on social media companies providing their services to children under 16 will take place this year, for the ban to come into effect early next year. Could she say more about the timetable for other proposals that were made on AI chatbots, overnight curfews and bans on doomscrolling for older children? Together, this package will make the world a safer, better place for children online—that is as well as the work we are doing offline.

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31. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the next steps that this Government will be taking to protect children online. This Government’s ambition is to be the world leader in shaping an online environment that works for us. We intend to be an active Government that will help to create an online environment that is not just safe, but enabling and empowering. That starts with fixing the fundamentals, and this House can expect to see us acting more quickly and more decisively from now on to keep us safe online. In December last year, the Government published their action plan to tackle violence against women and girls. I would like to put on record my gratitude to my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall) and my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), who are here today, for their clear ambition and determination that the UK would become the first country in the world where it would be impossible for children to take, share or view nude images online. In June, the Government challenged industry on a three-month timeline to work with us and set out road maps for how they would strengthen device-level protections for children with a view to preventing children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images on phones and tablets. Today I can update the House on the progress that has been made and the next steps that this Government will take to protect children. Since June, officials from my Department and the Home Office have overseen an unprecedented work programme with Apple and Google, working with senior leaders and engineers to explore new ways of preventing child sexual abuse and strengthening protections for children online. I can report that, following this engagement, Apple and Google have provided the Government with significant commitments. Both companies have developed meaningful changes at operating level to make it harder for children to share nude imagery. We have seen progress in the blocking, not blurring, of nude imagery on underage devices, and this builds on significant milestones already in implementation, including Apple’s roll-out earlier this year of operating system-level age assurance and tighter safety features preventing a child from receiving or sharing nude imagery on iMessage or FaceTime. These proposals are a step in the right direction. However, the truth is that they do not meet the scale of this crisis. Children are facing unacceptable levels of sexual harm online. They are being groomed, coerced and manipulated into creating and sharing intimate images across online services. The Internet Watch Foundation believes that 91% of these images are self-generated by children. They are used for blackmail and sexual extortion.[Official Report, 9 September 2026; Vol. 790, c. 8WC.] (Correction) Each year, around 9,000 child sexual abuse offences involve an online element, with under-18s the subject of almost a quarter of online blackmail. I challenge anyone to listen to those statistics and come to the conclusion that the internet is a safe place for kids or that the Government should not get involved. This is not the first time in history that new forms of technology have up-ended society, but what is unique to this moment is that the technology has been developed almost exclusively in the private sphere. I am clear that there is a central role for Government in shaping that technology for good, not just to protect from harm—although that is a basic obligation of any Government—but to enable and empower. When it comes to the development of technology that affects our lives, we are not neutral. In no other walk of life would we tolerate this crisis harming our children, and we will not tolerate it online. For too long, technology companies have failed to protect children from some of the worst harms. To be frank, I am not prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt that progress will continue at the pace we need it to, while harm is being done now. For that reason, I make the following announcements to the House. First, the Government today commit to introducing primary legislation to require major tech platforms to build in device-level protections for children. We will introduce the legislation to Parliament as soon as we can, recognising the urgency of the issue while ensuring that we work with colleagues across the House to get it right. We want to see movement on this quickly. If platforms in scope of the draft legislation develop and implement technical solutions while our work is ongoing, we will of course reassess whether legislation is necessary. We know that this is a sector that can, when required, innovate at an extraordinary pace when the chips are down. Alongside the measures on devices, the Government will, as soon as possible, require that apps used by children prevent children from accessing or sharing nudity. We will explore what legislation is needed to implement that commitment, with a view to moving as quickly as possible. This will ensure that the whole ecosystem changes, tackling the means by which children are most often abused or groomed online. Put simply, we will give tech companies the chance to lead; we will not give them the chance to lag. These measures, taken together, will make Britain the first country in the world to go this far, and a world leader in online safety. The message we are sending to tech companies is clear: planning must now become implementation, and progress must translate into protections that make a real difference to children’s lives. I give my commitment to all Members of this House, and to anybody listening out there in the country who has been desperately worried about what is happening to our children online, that when it comes to children’s safety, we are not, and never will be, bystanders. I commend this statement to the House.

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32. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    I thank the hon. Member for the way that she has engaged with these proposals. I will try my best to briefly answer as many of her questions as possible. First, on the detail, I have instructed my officials today to begin working up legislation. I appreciate that it is frustrating when a Minister comes to the Dispatch Box and says, “We intend to do this imminently”—the hon. Lady’s party has been in government; they understand the difficulties—but I want to reassure her and the whole House that we intend to do this without delay. The only reason there is not a firm timetable at the moment is because we are the first country in the world to do it. There are a number of questions, some of which she posed, which we need to iron out to ensure that we get this right. On what would constitute sufficient progress that would rid us of the need to introduce legislation, I would much rather the technology companies move at pace to meet their own social and moral obligations, but in the absence of that, the Government will step up and act. Frankly, if we were able to reach a situation very quickly, which we should be able to do with the right will, where children were not able to take or share nude images, then the problem would be solved. But I have to say, based on what I have seen in progress over the last three months, it is almost certain that we will be legislating in this area. The hon. Lady asked about which devices. It is phones and tablets at a minimum, but I accept the point she makes, and we are exploring whether it is possible to extend this to other forms of technology. The hon. Lady asked what I meant when I talked about shaping technology for good. I am a big supporter of the action we are taking on social media for children. I say this as the mum of an 11-year-old and someone who is going through it at the moment and trying to help navigate that; I know all parents across the House will recognise the challenges. I would love us to get to a situation as a country where all people, including children, can be online and find good, trusted information and things that help them to be creative, to feel empowered and to enable them to live the richer, larger lives that they want to live. I think the Government have a right and proper role in helping that to happen. One of the ways in which we are already doing that, building on the great work of my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall), is in trying to use gov.uk as a pioneering service that really does help people to live better lives. The hon. Lady says that this Government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to doing this. Her party was in government for a very long time, and the amount of time it took them to try to introduce any legislation in this area at all was quite shameful. That is not to downplay the role that some members of the Conservative party played in ensuring that we got there, but if it was not for my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West, I do not think I would be standing here today in a position to make this announcement. We should give credit where credit is due: this is a Government who are leading the world in keeping children safe. The last thing the hon. Lady asked me about, which I know many colleagues are concerned about, is the social media ban that we announced earlier this year. I can reassure the House that we do intend to stick to both the spirit and the letter of what my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West set out earlier this year. We are on track to meet the timetable that she set out, to lay the first regulations by the end of this year and for the ban to come into force in the spring of 2027. We also intend to go somewhat further than our initial proposition statement, and I would welcome the opportunity to talk with the hon. Lady in more detail about that.

    Hansard source
33. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    Once again, I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend and thank her so much for all her support both when we worked together in government and since; she really is a class act. I am not in a position to give a firm timetable for the measures that my right hon. Friend mentioned, but I will commit to coming back to her with one, because I understand that Members across the House will want to know that there will be no delay in taking action on those things. We are also looking at a more comprehensive system, very much in the spirit of the reforms that she set out earlier this year, and we intend to move quickly on that without delay. I do not think we will be in a position to do the whole package by the end of the year, but I would be very disappointed if we had not made enormous progress by then, including meeting the commitments that she set out. I would be particularly disappointed if, by this time next year, we did not have a much more robust and comprehensive package of measures in place.

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34. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    I thank the hon. Lady for her support for these measures. She asks me a number of questions. Will the legislation be developed regardless of the action taken by companies? Yes, it will—my officials have begun drawing up that legislation today. Both she and the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) raised specific issues. We will want to discuss those issues with Opposition parties and colleagues on the Government Benches to ensure that our response is right, and privacy is one of those issues. It is not our intention to ignore or sideline the privacy concerns, and we believe that it is perfectly possible to do this without encroaching on privacy in any way. There is a particular challenge around end-to-end encrypted services, which the hon. Member for Frome and East Somerset (Anna Sabine) will be aware of. I would welcome cross-party discussion about that; we have a number of potential solutions that we are currently exploring, so it would be good to discuss the matter further with her. Finally, the hon. Lady heard what I said about acting quickly and more decisively. Many colleagues will know that before I came to this place, I worked with children and young people. Keeping children safe is the first and most basic responsibility of any Government, and I am very pleased to hear such broad consensus on that across the House.

    Hansard source
35. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    My hon. Friend makes a typically well informed and well thought-out point. I thank her not just for her support, but for all the work she has done to ensure that we have got here. I know that she is appreciated not just by me, but by many of the incredible, brave families who I have had the privilege to get to know over the last few weeks and who have wanted to see action in this space for a very long time. I pay tribute to those families as well as to her. She has made an important point about working with Governments and other partners across the world to keep children safe. That is the promise of the UN convention on the rights of the child. A child harmed anywhere means that children can be harmed everywhere, and we have to take that really seriously. My hon. Friend should be encouraged—and I suspect that she is—by the fact that many Governments are now acting more decisively. They are stepping up and recognising that the development and regulation of new forms of technology cannot be left to the private sector alone. There is a clear role for active, empowering Governments working in this space, and my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) and I have not hesitated to reach out to like-minded Governments across the world to see what more we can do together.

    Hansard source
36. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    At the risk of spending the entire duration of this statement paying tribute to absolutely everybody, I thank the hon. Lady and her Committee for the work they have done on this issue, and that she has done in particular. I agree with her that it is a damning indictment if a country does not step up to keep its children safe, and I hope she is reassured by what she has heard today. The hon. Lady has asked a specific question about how this policy will be enforced, and I have heard loud and clear the concerns from across this House about the enforcement of the Online Safety Act. Before she left office, my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall) appointed a new chair of Ofcom, and specifically tasked Ofcom with stepping up its enforcement work; I have picked up the baton on that work, and I continue it. When it comes to this specific issue, we are looking in particular at the making and selling of devices here in the UK that do not have technology enabled to prevent children from taking and sharing nude images. We are also looking at what we can do in relation to particular apps, especially where highly verified age assurance does not apply, to make sure that we close every loophole. Given that we are the first Government in the world to do this, the way I would describe it to the House is that we are taking a major problem—a crisis—and trying to come at it from every single angle in order to keep children as safe as possible. I look forward to working with the hon. Lady to develop the detail.

    Hansard source
37. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    Overnight, I was thinking about how to address the House on this issue. During the financial crash, there was a live debate about the moral and social responsibilities that companies have to citizens, to one another and to all of us. I think we have slightly lost that part of our public debate. Working with some of these companies, I have been struck by how seriously they take those obligations. I want us to bring back that sense that we are all in this together—that we all have a responsibility to keep children safe—and given that these are some of the most innovative, fast-moving and successful companies in the world, it cannot be beyond our collective wit to do this more quickly. Frankly, I do not think we should be in a position where a Secretary of State is standing at the Dispatch Box and announcing that we have to legislate in order to uphold our responsibilities to our own children; but, like I said, if we have to, of course we will.

    Hansard source
38. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    I should be happy to do so.

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39. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    My hon. Friend is right. Let me say to him, as someone who shares his concern about the increase in exposure to violent content to very young children, that we are also looking at the issue of chatbots and strengthening the law to ensure that we protect children better from all these different forms of exposure.

    Hansard source
40. 8 Sep 2026·Parliament·Labour·Lisa Nandy

    Online Safety

    I have had an initial discussion about this with some of the tech companies. As the hon. Lady will know, as well as the horrific incidents that she mentioned, there has been a campaign by the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers relating to the way in which shop workers have been targeted. The Government are concerned about this, as am I personally, and I look forward to working with the hon. Lady to see what more we can do.

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