Online Safety

Debate between Lisa Nandy and Tom Collins

Tuesday 8th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Nandy]

I thank the hon. Lady for being such a long-standing campaigner on this issue, and I am sorry that it took many Secretaries of State before we were able announce this. I am really committed to looking at the issue seriously. I will go away after this statement and ask my officials to come back to me on it, and then I will reach out to her so that we can have a proper conversation about it.

[Tom Collins (Worcester) (Lab)]

I really welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. We have a massive crisis of digitally enabled child sexual exploitation in the UK. As an illustration, there is a global industry for livestreamed abuse material from the Philippines. The UK is the second largest global consumer and is second only to the US, which is a much larger country. The abuse extends beyond our borders. It extends to adults as well as children on adult devices, and it extends to interfaces as well as content. We will need a broader approach. The Secretary of State is right to identify that technology has disrupted society before. In such cases, we have seen massive expansion, harm and then regulation, and then moved to product safety. I have been working with experts and innovators on how a product safety approach might work. Will she meet me to discuss that?

[Lisa Nandy]

I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend. We have talked a lot about the tech companies in relation to this, and it is right to do so because there are obligations that must be met, but there is also traditional law enforcement, and we need to ensure that we do not let the individuals causing harm to children off the hook. The Home Secretary has been incredibly supportive of working hand in glove to ensure we deal with this from every angle.