Will the government ban under-16s from using social media?

The framework has twice been passed back to the Commons by the House of Lords, with Lord John Nash having added an amendment to include the ban for children.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government does not agree with the amendment and has once already rejected it - but will vote again on it this afternoon.

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill is otherwise as it was and has been stuck in the ping pong state between the Commons and Lords since January.

If the UK did adopt the clause, it would see Britain follow Australia's example in stopping children from accessing social media sites, including TikTok and Instagram.

Here is what you need to know ahead of the vote.

What is the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill?

The government is currently consulting on whether there should be a ban on social media for children aged under 16.

This would toughen what is proposed in the current Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is being drawn up to protect youngsters from accessing harmful content online.

The Bill is being put forward to build on the 2023 Online Safety Act, which came into action earlier this year.

As for the other elements of what is in the bill, the government said: “These would, among other things, enable the government to make regulations requiring internet service providers to prevent or restrict access by children of or under a specified age to specified features or functionalities of certain internet services.

”Although the consultation into the social media ban does not end until May 26, Sir Keir is hoping to put the bill through the Commons now to ensure the other elements are all felt.

He added: "You saw in the last government, we had an Online Safety Act, which is good, because it restricts what's available online."

The trouble is, it took eight years from the original idea to get to an outcome; we can't have eight years when it comes to social media and whether we ban it or [put] massive restrictions in place.

"So, we've taken the powers to make sure we can act within months, not years.“

But Lord Nash has urged MPs to back his amendment and has called the government “indecisive” and “frightened” of big tech companies.

"The government frankly is a bit indecisive as we know they are very much behind the ball in terms of their thinking on this,” he told Nick Ferrari.

“They weren't really engaged with this until we brought it to their attention."