Social Media: Ban for Under-16s

Josh Dean Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2026 Westminster Hall

[Josh Dean (Hertford and Stortford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the chair this afternoon, Sir Roger. I thank my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) for his opening speech and the petitioners for bringing this important issue forward.

There are a range of views on this debate, and it is so important that we listen to the young people who want us to look in detail at what the impact might be on them. It is absolutely right that we look at the concerns raised by all the young people, adults, teachers, parents and families on the impact of social media on children’s wellbeing, mental health and development. It is important that we recognise that they are genuine concerns shared by many.

I was rather looking forward to saying that I am the youngest Member in the room, but that claim has been stolen by my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Sam Carling). However, I am one of the few MPs who grew up with social media. Like many of my friends, I accessed social media before the age of 13. I have seen at first hand how rapidly evolving platforms have given rise to harmful content, misinformation and addiction, affecting adults as well as young people. The vast majority of colleagues in this place can remember a time before social media. Today’s generation of young people have not had that benefit. They have grown up with it, with their lives intertwined with the digital world.

Parents, teachers and young people have every right to be angry. When children are exposed to harmful content, online bullying, unrealistic expectations, addictive platform design and material that damages their mental health, it is no wonder that people feel we have not acted quickly enough in this place. I remember being a young person at school desperate for the Government to do more, and they did not. Parents are right to demand action. Parliament has a responsibility to respond. The question is not about whether we should act—of course we should. It is about what will be most effective, and it is so important that we get this right.

Earlier this year, I held a series of roundtables with secondary school pupils across Hertford and Stortford to hear directly from them about their experiences online. Many described social media as a source of anxiety. Others spoke about exposure to graphic content and misinformation—online pressures that previous generations simply did not have to navigate. The conversations I had with young people also highlighted that social media is not simply a straightforward source of risk. It can be a vital source of information, connection and support. Indeed, I first became politically engaged through the online world because, after the referendum in 2016, I was encouraged to join a protest to lower the voting age to 16, and I stood outside here with other young people calling for the voting age to be lowered. I would not have been there, and I would not be here had I not come across that through the online world.

Many of the young people I spoke to shared similar experiences and stressed that, too often, this debate overlooks the positive role that social media can play. When safe and well regulated, it can help to combat isolation and foster meaningful connections, particularly for those in semi-rural communities like mine. It can provide a lifeline for young people who are LGBTQ+, neurodiverse, or living with a mental health condition, helping them to understand their identity and access peer support networks. Many of those young people will be on long waiting lists for traditional services. Those online communities provide an essential source of support in the interim, and I worry that a blanket ban could risk pulling the rug out from under those young people and removing the safety net altogether.

One of the strongest messages I heard from young people was that they actually want us to do something to tackle online harms. Those young people were not white-knuckled, clinging on to their phones. They were telling us about their experience and that they want us to act. That should mean looking seriously at stronger age assurance, tougher regulation of harmful content, greater transparency around algorithms, meaningful parental controls and restrictions on deliberately addictive features. What it should mean is that we take the fight to the social media companies. I am, as of recently, 27 years old, and I have been waiting for this for a long time; young people today should not have to wait as long as I have.

I am cautious about the idea of a blanket ban. It is important that, whatever we do, we get it right. We must ask ourselves what happens next. If mainstream platforms become unavailable, how confident are we that young people will simply stop using online services altogether? Do we risk pushing them towards smaller, less-regulated platforms, where safeguards are weaker and oversight is more difficult? We should recognise the role that those platforms now play in civic and democratic engagement. For many young people, social media is a gateway to current affairs, public debate and political participation. This is about not just learning about politics from the online world, but engaging with it from the online world and holding politicians like us to account. While protecting children from harm, which I absolutely agree must be the priority, we need to be careful not to close off legitimate opportunities for engagement.

[Sam Carling]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the current proposals to have a hard cliff edge at 16 create a problem in terms of people suddenly being exposed to all of that world, having not really had the opportunity to develop the skills to be able to deal with it?

[Josh Dean]

I quite agree. Another colleague touched on the cliff edge: the idea that the day someone turns 16, they might get access to social media for the first time and then head off to the polling station to vote. It is right that we have more education on media literacy in schools but hands-on, practical experience in a safe and regulated online space is important as well. We have to consider how restricting young people’s access to this source of information might affect their long-term democratic participation.

If we are serious about encouraging the next generation to take part in our democracy, we have to bring young people with us on this journey, not exclude them from it. I commend the Government on their engagement with young people, parents, teachers and families across the country. Young people I spoke to were very pleased that their MP came to speak to them and hear their views, but the feedback from young people since the announcement has been less positive. It is so important that we bring them with us as we do this.

During the pandemic, we pushed more of young people’s lives online. They had no say. Education, social interaction, public services and democratic engagement increasingly moved into digital spaces. Many young people developed the habits of accessing news, discussing current affairs and engaging with campaigns through the very platforms we are now debating. We cannot rip them back out without giving them a proper say again. Protecting children from harm must be our priority, but I worry that if the answer is simply to ban access, we risk alienating the generation we seek to protect. They will not forgive us if we get this wrong, nor will their parents. If we shut them out of conversations, information and opportunities for participation that increasingly shape modern civic life, we should not be surprised if they choose not to engage going forward.

The challenge before us is not simply to restrict access to a list of platforms, but to create an online environment in which young people can participate safely, responsibly and confidently as future citizens. Yes, we should act. Parents are right to expect action. Young people themselves are asking for action. But let us focus on the features, the business models and the failures of regulation that are causing harm rather than assuming that a blanket ban is the only solution available and putting the pressure of companies’ failures on the shoulders of young people.

Will the Minister update the House on how the Department is assessing evidence from countries, such as Australia, that have pursued a social media ban for young people? Will he confirm that restrictions will be regularly reviewed and remain adaptable, given the current pace of technological change?

--- Later in debate ---

[Fred Thomas]

I certainly agree with my hon. Friend; I guess we are just debating what those methods are. I fully agree that the cause of these issues is the technologies now being basically monopolised into four or five massive companies. This debate is about what we do to tackle that.

I will address the cliff edge argument, where some folks suggest that if we stop young people having access to certain social media until they are 16, and then they suddenly have access, they will be super-vulnerable or in some way unprepared for the social media world. I do not think that makes sense, because it implies that exposure is the same thing as preparation—it is not. The brain in someone under 16 is developing and needs protecting. It is in a better place to deal with the harms once the person is 16 than when they are 14. I do not find any credibility in that argument.

[Josh Dean]

We agree on the cause; it is the methods that we have different views on. I recognise my hon. Friend’s point about the development of the brain, but should the onus not be on social media companies to clean up their act across the piece, so that every 16-year-old accessing social media, and indeed everyone over 16, is free from the harms currently found there? Should the aim not be to make sure that the harms are gone, not that the under-16s are gone?

National Youth Strategy

Josh Dean Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2026 Westminster Hall

[Josh Dean (Hertford and Stortford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair this afternoon, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this debate.

I welcome this Labour Government’s national youth strategy, and how it recognises the importance of achieving good work and the emphasis that it places on trusted adults. Too often, those relationships have been seen as a soft offer—a nice to have—when in fact they are a key strategic asset in tackling youth unemployment. That is because today we risk having a lost generation. There are a million young people neither earning nor learning, with hundreds of thousands of them disconnected from traditional employment support and hidden from the system entirely.

A growing evidence base suggests that trusted adult relationships, whether with youth workers, coaches, mentors or others can act as the connective tissue to the wider support that will help to address the barriers locking young people out of education, employment and training. They can transform a young person’s journey to employment through the continuity, advocacy and encouragement that many need to navigate a system that is often confusing and isolating. That consistent, person-centred support can be vital in identifying those hidden NEETs too.

On Monday, to mark Youth Employment Week, I hosted a roundtable with the Youth Futures Foundation where we heard the powerful testimony of its youth ambassadors: Aarya, Elaina, Grace, Niamh, Serena, Sharna and Yusra. They talked about the impact that the presence, or absence, of a trusted adult had had on them. I am living proof that trusted adults can succeed where traditional provision falls short. When I dropped out of school feeling like the world had ended, it was a local youth worker called Russell who helped to rebuild my confidence and set me on a positive journey. I would not be here representing the home that I love without the support that he gave me.

In a fragmented and often confusing landscape, trusted adults can act as a golden thread, bridging young people into the right support at the right time. They can also help to draw this Labour Government’s offers together, aligning work across employment, education, skills, health and youth policy, delivering the system change required to tackle the NEET challenge.

Young Futures hubs can act as centres of excellence for relational practice, offering open access and co-ordinated support for young people across employment, mental health and crime prevention in every community. I would be grateful if the Minister could set out in her response how she is working across Government to deliver this manifesto commitment, and how she thinks we can strengthen and support the role of youth workers like Russell, and trusted adults more generally, across this important policy area.

Oral Answers to Questions

Josh Dean Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2026 Commons Chamber

The hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent, representing the Restoration and Renewal Client Board, was asked—

[Josh Dean (Hertford and Stortford) (Lab)]

8. What recent progress the client board has made on consulting hon. Members on the restoration and renewal programme.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney)]

The restoration and renewal programme has engaged extensively with Members of both Houses. In this Parliament, there have been 380 interactions with MPs and peers through briefings, tours and events. The number of interactions over the past three years, since January 2023, is about 980. The client board will shortly publish a report to help us all decide on the preferred way forward.

[Josh Dean]

I thank my hon. Friend for his answer and for the board’s engagement with parliamentary colleagues. A full decant from Parliament is among the options for colleagues to consider as we restore this place—it is an option that I support—but will he set out what engagement the board has had on any plans to ensure that, if we do decant, Parliament remains in London to ensure that the jobs of the hundreds of people who keep this place running, including our catering and cleaning staff, are protected?

[Nick Smith]

After ramping up engagement on the cost information, and once the House has provided direction on the R and R programme, if we do go to full decant, the Lords will likely go to the Queen Elizabeth II centre and MPs to the northern estate. There will be ongoing work on temporary accommodation, and the related impact on jobs is for us all to consider in future.

Youth Services

Josh Dean Excerpts

Thursday 15th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Josh Dean (Hertford and Stortford) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon East (Natasha Irons) for securing the debate.

Far be it from me to come to the Chamber and speak only about myself, but I want to share my personal experience. I have often said that, had it not been for the youth workers in my community, I would not be stood here as the Member of Parliament for Hertford and Stortford. I dropped out of sixth form at 17 and went straight to work in Hertford town centre. I wanted to find my path, but I was left feeling directionless, struggling to connect with the right opportunities. I cannot put into words the difference that the support of local authority youth workers—like Russell, who I have mentioned in the Chamber before—made to me, as a young person who could not see the way forward.

A young person in the same position today will not have access to a similar level. Why is that? It is not because our youth workers are any less passionate or determined to support our young people. No, it is because when the cuts came under the last Government, youth services were first on the chopping block, leaving a generation of young people behind.

In Hertfordshire, there has been a 50% real-terms cut to youth services spending since 2010-11. One in eight young people are not in employment, education or training. They are at the sharp end of crises in mental health and in provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities, with charities and voluntary organisations straining every sinew to fill the gaps and ensure that our young people do not miss out. That is the legacy of the Conservative party when it comes to young people, and it is a real disappointment to see Conservative Benches so empty this afternoon.

In my remaining time, I would like to pay tribute to the Thirst youth café and the FUTUREhope group—charities and voluntary organisations that have provided fantastic support in our community. It was a pleasure to visit them when we were hosting consultations in my constituency on the national youth strategy. I hugely welcome the work that this Government are undertaking to support our young people, and I hope to play a role in that.

Football Governance Bill [Lords]

Josh Dean Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 28th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Josh Dean (Hertford and Stortford) (Lab)]

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this important piece of legislation and what it will mean for football fans in Hertford and Stortford, thousands of whom travel week in, week out to premier league games in London, to which we are ably linked by our rail services.

Before I turn to the specific measures in the Bill, I would like to touch on why football is so important to communities such as mine. Since my election in July last year, it has been a pleasure to visit and watch a number of the non-league clubs across Hertford and Stortford, and to meet some of the managers, coaches, players and volunteers who keep them going and bring our community together. So many players at non-league clubs such as those go on to much larger teams in the future, too. We cannot overestimate the importance of grassroots football in our communities, and I pay tribute to Bishop’s Stortford football club, Sawbridgeworth Town FC, Hertford Town football club and Ware football club. I particularly pay tribute to Ware and Sawbridgeworth, which have just avoided relegation in the latest season.

I would also like to briefly update the House on the 93rd birthday of John Staines. Some Members may remember that I have raised the topic of Hertford Town football club’s drive to get 1,000 people down to their game against Flackwell Heath to mark John’s birthday following more than 60 years of dedicated support for the club, 30 of them as a volunteer. It was heartwarming to see our community turn out to recognise John’s contribution to the club, and I am pleased to report that we saw just over 1,000 people turn out in Hertford to do so.

It has become apparent in recent years that we need to protect our game, and I applaud the Bill’s aim of protecting and promoting the sustainability of English football in the interests of fans and the local communities that football clubs serve. I welcome its core objectives of ensuring sound club finances and systemic financial resilience and safeguarding club heritage. In particular, the creation of an independent football regulator is most welcome, delivering on this Government’s manifesto commitment to protect clubs and empower fans.

In the time I have left, I want to mention one quick point that was raised with me by some of our non-league clubs ahead of this debate, which I would be grateful if the Secretary of State could address. Clubs have highlighted the disparity in contract regulation between non-league and professional football; currently, non-league players can be offered a full-time contract only at the age of 18, while in professional football players can be contracted at 17. To ensure fairness to our grassroots clubs, will the Secretary of State consider equalising the age at which non-league clubs and professional clubs can offer full-time contracts to players in the future?

It has been my absolute pleasure to spend time speaking to our local non-league clubs. I know that our residents are immensely passionate about football, and it is fantastic that this Bill is being brought forward to put our fans right at the heart of that great game.

Market Towns: Cultural Heritage

Josh Dean Excerpts

Tuesday 4th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[Josh Dean (Hertford and Stortford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Southend East and Rochford (Mr Alaba) for securing this debate.

I am proud to represent Hertford and Stortford, home to a number of significant market towns steeped in such history that many of them appeared in the Domesday Book. Hertford is my home; I am privileged to have grown up there. My parents moved to Hertford in the late 1990s because they wanted me to have the very best start in life. Parliamentary scholars will know that when plague overran London in the 1500s, Parliament moved to Hertford castle, where the gatehouse is now home to Hertford town council, on which I proudly once served.

Hertford’s old Corn Exchange, which once linked us to the corn markets of London, has been reborn as a live music venue called simply the Corn Exchange, serving the lively local music and arts scene that produced talents like George Ezra and Rupert Grint. Residents are proud of our weekly charter market in Salisbury Square. Our town centre, in which I found my first job, is home to a diverse offering of independent shops, pubs and restaurants.

Bishop’s Stortford has contributed more than its fair share of musical talent, with famous musicians including Sam Smith and Charli XCX attending local schools. Bishop’s Stortford has contributed its fair share to this Parliament, too. Upon election I became aware of at least four Members of this House, including my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume), who attended local schools in Bishop’s Stortford.

Stansted airport, the largest single site employer in the east of England, sits right on our doorstep, offering opportunities for work, skills training and lifelong learning to our residents in Bishop’s Stortford. The direct train line between the two means that our community is readily connected to the rest of the world.

For reasons of time I cannot go into detail on all the market towns in my constituency, but there are others, including Ware and Sawbridgeworth, of which we are deeply proud. But our towns are not without challenge, so I would be grateful if the Minister could, in her response, touch on the support that the Labour Government are providing for high streets in semi-rural communities and market towns to ensure that residents can readily access vital in-person services. Also, will she touch on the support that the Government are providing for live music venues such as the Corn Exchange in Hertford, of which our residents are deeply proud?

[Sir Jeremy Wright (in the Chair)]

I am grateful for the exemplary time discipline so far.