Online safety campaigners have accused Keir Starmer of failing to act on proposals to prevent children sending and receiving nude images, following the resignation of Jess Phillips from the government. Phillips, who quit on Tuesday alongside three other ministers, said she was tired of seeing 'opportunities for progress stalled and delayed'.
In her resignation letter, Phillips focused on the lack of urgency in tackling child abuse images, saying she had presented solutions over a year ago that would end the ability for children to take naked pictures of themselves. 'It has taken me a year to get you to agree to even threaten to legislate in this space. Not legislate, just threaten,' she wrote, adding that the announcement was meant to be in March.
Hannah Swirsky, head of policy at the Internet Watch Foundation, said the technology to block the transmission of such images exists and could be implemented, but the government had been 'extremely slow' and 'too cautious'. IWF research shows that 91% of criminal child sexual abuse image reports in 2024 contained 'self-generated' imagery, while police recorded 7,263 sexual communication with a child offences last year – almost double the number since 2017-18.
Campaigners had hoped the violence against women and girls strategy, published in December, would compel tech firms to make image blockers a default feature on children's phones. Instead, it pledged to 'join forces with tech companies'. Sources said the measures had support from the Home Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, but had encountered 'a wall of inertia' in Downing Street, with proposals sitting on the prime minister's desk for months.
Andy Burrow, CEO of the Molly Rose Foundation, said campaigners were 'deeply frustrated' at the 'logjam' at the top of government. 'There is just this sense that it's just been stuck in treacle in No 10,' he said. He added there had been hope the measures would be included in the King's Speech, expected on Wednesday, but that it was 'anybody's guess' after the recent political turmoil.
