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Rishi Sunak facing major Tory rebellion over internet safety law

Rishi Sunak is facing a major backbench rebellion over the government’s plans to prevent harmful material on the internet.

Thirty-six Tory MPs are backing a plan to make social media bosses face prison if they fail to protect children from damaging content online.

Their amendment to the Online Safety Bill is due to be voted on next week.

The idea was suggested under Boris Johnson, but eventually dismissed in favour of higher fines for firms.

The rebellion follows other significant backbench revolts in recent weeks over housing targets for councils and restrictions on onshore wind farms.

On both of those issues, the prime minister backed down and offered concessions to avoid defeat in the House of Commons.

Under the rebels’ proposals, senior managers at tech firms could face up to two years in jail if they breach new duties to keep children safe online. The provision would not apply to search engines.

Child protection

These duties include taking “proportionate measures” to stop children seeing harmful material, including through measures such as age verification, taking content down, and parental controls.

Currently the bill would only make managers criminally liable for failing to give information to media regulator Ofcom, which is set to gain wide-ranging powers to police the internet under the new law.

Making managers liable for a failure to comply with broader safety duties in the bill was rejected after a consultation ahead of the bill’s introduction, which concluded it could make the UK tech sector less attractive.

Companies failing in their legal duties, including protecting children, could be fined up to 10% of global revenue.

However, supporters of the amendment, including child protection charities, argue that only personal liability for company bosses will ensure the child safety provisions are effective.

Tory rebels point to the construction and financial services industries, which have similar personal liabilities for company managers.

‘Toothless’

A leading Tory rebel, Miriam Cates, told the BBC the group met Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan earlier this week, and ministers recognise the “strength of feeling” over the issue.

She added that they were open to government concessions, but any proposal to change the law would have to retain personal liability for managers.

Labour has confirmed to the BBC that it supports the rebel Tory amendment. It means the government, which has a working majority of 68, is at serious risk of defeat.

The party has tabled similar amendments throughout the bill’s passage through Parliament. Labour’s Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell has previously said a lack of criminal liability for social media bosses would leave Ofcom “toothless”.

Other Conservatives supporting the bill include former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, and several former ministers including former home secretary Priti Patel.

The Online Safety Bill was introduced in March under Mr Johnson, and has been repeatedly changed during its passage through Parliament.

Its progress was delayed last month after the government decided to make more changes to the bill.

It is due to return to the Commons next Tuesday, after which it will begin what is likely to be a long journey through the House of Lords.

Putin

Ambulances taking 90 minutes to get to 999 calls

Patients with emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes in England had to wait more than 90 minutes on average for an ambulance at the end of 2022.

It came after a sharp deterioration in 999 response times in December - they were nearly twice as bad as November.

Record worst waits were also recorded for life-threatening cardiac arrests, while A&E waits of over fourhours reached their highest level ever.

Patient groups warned the delays would be leading to real harm.

Patients with emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes in England had to wait more than 90 minutes on average for an ambulance at the end of 2022.

It came after a sharp deterioration in 999 response times in December - they were nearly twice as bad as November.

Record worst waits were also recorded for life-threatening cardiac arrests, while A&E waits of over fourhours reached their highest level ever.

Patient groups warned the delays would be leading to real harm.

Combined, the data - released by NHS England - represents the worstever set of emergency care figures since modern records began in 2004.

The figures show: • Average waits of more than 90 minutes to reach emergency calls such as heart attacks - five times longer than the target time - with waits of over 150 minutes in some regions

• Response times for the highest priority calls, such as cardiac arrests, taking close to 11 minutes - four minutes longer than they should • More than a third of patients in A&E waiting longer than four hours • One in seven patients waiting more than 12 hours for a bed on a ward when they need to be admitted • But there has been some progress with the waiting list for routine treatment falling slightly, to 7.19m by the end of November

“Pressures on the NHS right now are intolerable - with patients paying the price,” said Louise Ansari, national director of the Healthwatch England patient group.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine believes up to 500 people a week could be dying because of the problems accessing emergency care.

‘My dying husband could not get an ambulance’

When Martin Clark, 68, started suffering with chest pains at home in East Sussex in November, his wife immediately called an ambulance.

But none came. She phoned another three times before her and her son decided to drive Martin to hospital themselves 45 minutes later.

When they arrived, the father-of-five went into cardiac arrest and, despite receiving medical attention, died.

His wife, Ann, said while waiting for an ambulance Martin had been crying out in pain and at one point wrote a note saying: “I don’t think I’m going to make it. Love you.”

It was excruciating, she said, adding: “He was let down very badly. They should have come.”

The case happened before any strike action was held in the NHS.

The South East Ambulance Service has apologised for not being able to send a crew.

Downing Street said “people will be rightly concerned” by the waiting time figures.

The prime minister’s spokesman added the ambulance waits in particular were clearly “not acceptable” and tackling the problems was one of the government’s key priorities.

The Healthcare Safety Investigations Branch, which investigates incidents in the NHS, has previously warned about the risk to patients from ambulance delays.

One of the key problems is the long delays crews face at accident and emergency units.

The handover of patients should be done within 15 minutes - but in November, a third of handovers took more than 30 minutes.

By the end of the December, this had risen to more than 40%.

Unions say patient safety is one of the key reasons ambulance staff are striking. Wednesday saw the second walkout of the winter by crews in England and Wales.

Source:BBC‘