Nigel Farage would be on Jimmy Saville’s “side” when it comes to online child abuse, a minister sensationally claimed.
Peter Kyle, in an astonishing moment that shocked Sky News host Wilfred Frost, said Mr Farage’s opposition to the Online Safety Act means he is “on the side of turning the clock back to when strange adults can get in touch via messaging apps with children.”
Mr Kyle said: “If people like Jimmy Saville were alive today, he would be perpetrating his crimes online.
“And Nigel Farage is saying that he’s on their side, not the side of the children.”
The Reform UK leader has hit back at the claim, posting on X: “Peter Kyle’s comments on Sky News are disgusting. He should do the right thing and apologise.”
In the bizarre Sky News exchange, Mr Frost interjected: “I am going to ask you to clarify, do you honestly think Nigel Farage is on Jimmy Saville’s side?”
Defending his remarks, the Technology Minister continued: “When it comes to online activity, we have seen unfettered access of adults to children via social media.
“When we put in the age verification, it stops. It’s strange adults getting in touch with children.”
Mr Frost hit back: “This is a major leap. You’re going to stick to the fact that you said that Nigel Farage is on Jimmy Saville’s side.”
The Labour henchman said: “Nigel Farage is on the side of turning the clock back to the time when strange adults can get in touch via messaging apps with children.
“We have now asked them to age verify the age in which people can have access to online content so we can protect children from unwanted, dangerous content and also those messaging services where people can get access directly to it.
“Nigel Farage wants to turn the clock right back on all of that.”
Mr Kyle also accused the Reform UK leader of extreme pornographers” over Reform UK’s pledge to scrap the Online Safety Act. Peter Kyle told Sky News: “People have to understand the wild west that children have been living in for too long.
“That ended on my watch. It ended on the watch of this Government. It’s a big step forward, believe me.”
He added: “I see that Nigel Farage is already saying that he’s going to overturn these laws. So you know, we have people out there who are extreme pornographers, peddling hate, peddling violence. Nigel Farage is on their side.
“Make no mistake about it, if people like Jimmy Savile were alive today, he’d be perpetrating his crimes online. And Nigel Farage is saying that he’s on their side.”
Mr Farage on Monday warned the UK is heading towards a dystopian” nightmare that will push children to “even more dangerous content” on the internet. The Reform UK leader will repeal the Online Safety Act if he wins the next General Election, the party announced on Monday.
Mr Farage warned people were already trying to circumvent the controversial plans – introduced by the Conservatives – and that freedom of speech was being suppressed.
He told a press conference in Westminster: “Of course, we want to find a way of protecting young people from not getting hold of harmful or dangerous content.
“But if a result of what we’ve seen over the weekend is driving people off towards VPNs, potentially towards the dark web, we might find young people accessing even more dangerous content than they were before this legislation came in.
“Would we do our best to find a way of making this work, yes, but frankly our belief is that those that drafted this act genuinely didn’t understand how the tech world works and have produced something with the very best of intentions but the result of which, frankly, does lead us towards a very dystopian place.”
Former party chairman Zia Yusuf said the Act, intended to reduce online harm, did “absolutely nothing to protect children” but worked to “suppress freedom of speech” and “force social media companies to censor anti-government speech”.
Under rules that came into effect on July 25, online platforms such as social media sites and search engines must take steps to prevent children accessing harmful content such as pornography or material that encourages suicide.
This includes introducing age verification for websites and ensuring algorithms do not work to harm children by, for example, pushing such content towards them when online.
Failing to comply with the new rules could incur fines of up to £18 million or 10% of a firm’s global turnover, whichever is greater.
But Mr Yusuf said greater take-up of VPN services, which can enable internet users to circumvent the new rules, showed the legislation did not protect children and in fact made them less safe.
He said: “Sending all of these kids onto VPNs is a far worse situation, and sends them much closer to the dark web, where the real dangers lie.”
He also criticised sections of the legislation that allow ministers to direct regulator Ofcom to modify its rules setting out how companies can comply with requirements to crack down on illegal or harmful content, saying it was “the sort of thing that I think (Chinese president) Xi Jinping himself would blush at the concept of”.