PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Social Media: Children and Young People - 18 March 2026 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

Every child deserves the best possible start in life, and that applies as much to the online world as it does to the real one. We know that families everywhere are grappling with the impact of phones and social media. That is why we have launched our national consultation, and we have had over 25,000 responses so far. We want to hear from everyone, particularly children and young people themselves, and the consultation—with a child-friendly design—will be one of the first of its kind to hear specifically from them. We also want to make sure that we particularly reach out to children with special educational needs and disabilities, and those in care, for their views.

I think the party that wants to repeal the Online Safety Act puts children at risk. Its Members do not stand for British values and they do not stand for British law; Labour Members do.

There are strong and differing views across this House and the country on a social media ban for under-16s. Indeed, when I have spoken to young people, that has come out, and there was not a strong feeling in my old school, de Ferrers academy, about this. Can the Secretary of State say what engagement she will have with young people, so that decisions about their lives are directly fed into this consultation?

Not for the first time, my hon. Friend is spot on. I spoke to young people at Fullhurst school in my constituency and they had very different views about this proposal. We really want to hear directly from young people themselves—we have already had over 1,700 responses—but especially from children. We are partnering with UK Youth and Volunteering Matters to run a series of seven youth-led events across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We will also pilot other potential interventions, including overnight curfews and daily screentime limits, working with children and parents to see what works in practice and its impact on family life.

I hope this is a helpful suggestion to the Secretary of State. There have been some objections to a social media ban for young people based on the fact that it would create a cliff edge, whereby they have no involvement with it and then total involvement with it. Does she agree with me that one way to minimise that danger is to encourage children to use the internet, which is not interactive, as that will gradually acclimatise them for the day when they are able to use interactive services more safely?

The right hon. Gentleman is always helpful—well, not always, but on this occasion he has been very helpful. The cliff-edge argument has been made to me personally by the NSPCC, the Molly Rose Foundation, the Internet Watch Foundation and others, and it is one that we should take seriously. I have spoken to schools in my constituency about how best to handle it if we were to go ahead with the ban. There is a really important point about young people’s education and awareness, because life is online now and we have to prepare children for the future. That is at the heart of the issues we are debating in the consultation.

I recently visited Lytchett Minster school and Queen Elizabeth’s school, and I held a session asking the young people about their views. Overwhelmingly, the children in sixth form supported a ban and the children in the younger part of the school did not. How will the Government tailor the questions for younger children and older children, so that we get a true understanding of the problem?

I would love it if the hon. Lady sent me a report or a note on that, because alongside the consultation, which is specifically designed for children and young people, many of us in this House are talking to schools. I say to everybody: do send in those views, and I promise I will read them all.