'Deeply disappointing': Social media ban for under-16s rejected by MPs for second time

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Opposition MPs and members of the Lords have repeatedly called for an Australian-style ban to protect children from online harms.

They voted by 256 to 150, majority 106, to side with the Government on its plan to tackle social media-linked harms affecting children.

As part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, ministers are set to gain a flexible power to curb children’s social media use with curfews, scrolling limits and restrictions on location sharing.

The Government could also choose to block under-16s from specified platforms.

A consultation, set to close next month, has been set up to help ministers decide what action they should take.

MPs in the Commons, where the Government has a majority, voted last month to reject it in favour of the flexible power, before the Lords insisted on the default ban.

But as part of the process to agree on the final wording of the Bill, sometimes known as ping pong, MPs have again agreed to back the Government’s position.

'Deeply disappointing'

Lord Nash, former Minister for Schools said: "It is deeply disappointing that the government and MPs have chosen again to sit on the fence.

"At a moment when globally the tide has turned - as we have seen from the historic recent cases in the US and the daily growing list of countries taking decisive action - now is the time for action.

"But the Government's approach is to sit and wait, to let the harms mount up and come forward with a statement in six months' time. How can that amount to effective action in the face of daily changing technology?

"It would be such a small step for the government to now propose delaying the age for access to harmful social media to 16 and then the consultation can be about how to do this and also the very important area of AI chatbots and companions and VPNs and the other matters that it covers.

"The Bill will now return to the Lords, where we have every intention of once again telling the Government that our position is unchanged. Only by raising the age limit to 16 can we properly protect our children."

Education minister Olivia Bailey insisted protecting children online is a priority, and it was a matter of “how the Government will act not if”, with a consultation set to conclude next month.

Addressing the Commons, Ms Bailey said: “Instead of the narrow amendment proposed in the House of Lords, our consultation allows us to address a much wider range of services and features.

“It also allows us to consider the different views about the way forward, and that’s why it’s crucial that we do not pre-empt the Government’s consultation, which will close next month.”

She insisted the Government wanted to see swift action and there would not be “endless rounds of consultation”.

In place of the Lords ban, ministers have put forward an amendment which would commit the Education Secretary to report to Parliament on progress within six months of the Bill passing.

Shadow education secretary Laura Trott said she would “keep fighting until the Government offers a ban on social media on the face of the Bill”, saying the only person standing in the way was the Prime Minister.

She said: “Their recent guidance on under-fives and screens was very good but they just need to finish the job. They need to do this.

“They need to get smartphones out of schools and they need to ban children from social media. It’s the right thing to do, it’s what the evidence shows and it really will make a difference.”

Ms Trott warned that some children had died likely as a result of taking on dangerous social media trends, such as blackout challenges, which can involve choking.

She also paid tribute to families sitting in the gallery who campaigned for a change in the law following the deaths of their children.

The education minister argued that a Lords amendment putting a ban on phones in schools on a statutory footing was “unnecessary” and it was her “honest view, we have already solved the problem”.

Ms Bailey said: “This Government is already crystal clear that mobile phones have no place in schools at any point during the school day.

“We have strengthened the weak guidance from the party opposite to make it absolutely clear that schools should be mobile-free environments by default.”

The minister also said they have written to every headteacher to tell them phones should not be in their schools and asked Ofsted to ensure bans are being enforced.

She added: “If the consultation comes back and tells me that making the guidance statutory is going to make a difference, then we will do it.

Responding, Ms Trott said: “Just put it on a statutory footing, for the love of God.”