A second Cabinet minister has accused Nigel Farage of being on the side of Jimmy Savile and other paedophiles by opposing the Online Safety Bill. Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, this morning defended Tech Secretary Peter Kyle after his astonishing tirade against the Reform UK leader yesterday.
Despite demands for an apology from Mr Farage, Ms Alexander doubled down on the row. She told Times Radio: “I think the point that Peter was making is that predators today, sexual predators today, operate online. And if social media had been around in the same way as it is today, when Jimmy Savile was committing those crimes against young children, then it’s inconceivable that Jimmy Savile wouldn’t have been in the online space as well.”
“It is a fact that Nigel Farage and the Reform Party have said that they would repeal the Online Safety Act in its entirety, when of course some of the most significant provisions of that legislation is to protect children from predators, from seeing pornographic material on their phones and on their computers.
“And so Nigel Farage doesn’t like the truth of the matter when my colleague explains to him the importance of the Online Safety Act and why he is so wrong to be wanting to repeal it.”
In a Telegraph op-ed last night, Mr Farage branded Mr Kyle “the worst kind of online troll” and slammed him for doubling down on his attack instead of apologising.
He wrote: “We asked Kyle for an apology for his revolting slander. Instead, like the worst kind of online troll, this sorry excuse for a British secretary of state simply doubled down on the abuse. ‘If you want to overturn the Online Safety Act,’ he tweeted, ‘you are on the side of predators. It’s as simple as that.’
“No minister, it is not as simple as that, far from it. All of this is of course a deflection from the real problem with the Online Safety Act, proudly passed by the previous Tory government and enthusiastically enforced by Keir Starmer’s Labour.
“Like Big Brother’s Ministry of Truth in 1984, this Orwellian law does the exact opposite of what it claims. In the name of safety, the Act poses the biggest threat to freedom of speech in this country in our lifetimes. In the name of protecting children, the law aims to regulate what adults are allowed to say or see – while doing nothing to make our children safer.
“That is why Reform UK is pledged to repealing the Online Safety Act.”
Since the Online Safety Act’s online age verification requirements came into force at the end of last week, social media users have already spotted websites blocking access to particular political content.
This has included blocking footage of anti-migrant protests, and the court transcripts from rape gang trials.
Teenagers are already using Virtual Private Network (VPN) apps to bypass the online safety rules, and continue accessing pornography, with the apps shooting up app store charts.
A petition demanding the repeal of the act has hit 400,000, with Mr Farage encouraging those concerned to sign it.