‘No place for violent content online,’ says policing minister in pornography ban pledge

18 June 2025, 20:22

The Government will ban pornography depicting strangulation and suffocation, the policing minister has vowed.

Dame Diana Johnson said “there is absolutely no place for violent, misogynistic and harmful content online”, after several MPs urged the Government to expand the definition of “extreme pornographic images”.

It will be up to peers to bring in the ban, as an amendment to the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, after the wide-ranging draft legislation cleared the Commons on Wednesday.

But Conservative former minister Dame Caroline Dinenage tried to alter the Bill in the elected chamber, when she pushed for a vote on her proposed new clause 121.

MPs rejected her bid by 310 votes to 114, majority 196, which would have banned pictures and videos of “an act which affects a person’s ability to breathe and constitutes battery of that person”.

Debating the Bill, Dame Caroline told MPs: “We need to send a signal that strangling your partner in bed is not safe. It can be a precursor to coercive, abusive behaviour.”

The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairwoman added: “The UK, as we know, is a large porn consumer. In any given month, over 10 million adults in the UK will access online porn, and the vast majority of them will be chaps.

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“That’s up to them. We don’t judge. But we also know from research that online porn is so widespread that one in 10 children have seen it by the age of nine.

“Unfortunately, it is the guide that many young people use to learn about sex, and that is why I’m extremely worried that non-fatal strangulation has been found to be rife on porn sites.”

Home Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Karen Bradley, a Conservative former culture secretary, also backed the ban and told the Commons: “This is not impacting on what people may wish to do in their private lives, but it does mean that those images would not then be available to be seen in pornographic films.

“And it means that there’s protection for children who may be looking at this pornography. We don’t want them to look at it, but we’re realists, we recognise this happens, and it would mean that this doesn’t normalise something which is a really dangerous act and really should not be being promoted in any way.”

Labour MP for Lowestoft Jess Asato had proposed a similar ban, on content which depicts “an act of choking, suffocating or strangling another person”, which MPs did not vote on.

Responding, Dame Diana said: “There is absolutely no place for violent, misogynistic and harmful content online that perpetuates violent views against women and girls and has the effect of doing them great harm.

“We know that the increasing prevalence of this kind of content outlined in this amendment is fuelling violent sexual encounters.

“While there are issues with the drafting for both these new clauses, the Government supports their underlying aim.

“Accordingly, I am pleased to say that we will bring forward amendments in the Lords to criminalise pornography depicting strangulation and suffocation.”

The Bill, if passed, will create new respect orders, as part of Government efforts to crack down on antisocial behaviour, and set up a new duty to report suspected child sex offences to police forces and councils in England.

It will also decriminalise abortion for women acting in relation to their own pregnancies, after Labour MP for Gower Tonia Antoniazzi successfully amended the Bill on Tuesday.

Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells Mike Martin unsuccessfully tried to amend the Bill, to commence provisions passed in the Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023.

The law, which criminalises the harassment of people in public based on their sex, was passed 21 months ago but the Government has not yet introduced regulations to bring it into force.

When he triggered a vote on his new clause 43, MPs rejected his proposal by 305 votes to 147, majority 158.

Mr Martin said he was “disappointed and confused” about the delay, and added the Government gets “a little more vague, a little bit less definitive about commencement”.

Dame Diana said the Government is working with the police and other agencies to bring forward regulations and added: “I would like to reassure (Mr Martin) that tackling public sexual harassment is an important part of our mission to halve the levels of violence against women and girls in a decade.

“We are continuing to consider measures to address sex-based harassment, including the commencement of this legislation.

“The new violence against women and girls strategy will set out improvements in the way that we are going to tackle sexual harassment, and that’s due to be published before the summer recess.

“The new clause that (Mr Martin) has brought forward would, though, tie commencement of the Act to the timelines of this Bill.

“However, it is important that it’s brought into force following the conclusion of our work with the police and other agencies so that its introduction is effectively managed. It therefore does need to be commenced by regulation in the normal way.”

The overall Bill cleared the Commons by 312 votes to 95, majority 217, and will undergo further scrutiny in the House of Lords.