Rishi Sunak bows to the Online Safety Bill rebels

Rishi Sunak and Michelle Donelan will this afternoon bow to the inevitable and accept rebel changes to the Online Safety Bill. They are doing so after it became obvious that the government was going to lose a vote on the legislation, due to have its remaining stages in the Commons later today.

Tory backbenchers Bill Cash and Miriam Cates have said they won’t be pressing their amendment to a vote after reaching an agreement with ministers. Their proposals, which had the support of at least 50 Conservative MPs, as well as the backing of the Labour Party, would have meant tech bosses would face jail if they failed to protect children from harmful content on their platforms. 

The compromise from the government, which the rebels have agreed to after a weekend of talks, means bosses who ‘consent or connive in ignoring enforceable requirements, risking serious harm to children’ will face jail. Those who have ‘acted in good faith to comply in a proportionate way’ will not. This is to avoid any unintended consequences of the rebel proposals, including deterring tech companies from investing in the UK. Digital Minister Paul Scully will outline the changes this afternoon, with the amendment itself appearing when the legislation moves to the House of Lords.

Labour says this climbdown shows Sunak is ‘weak’, because he is having to shape his policy around his backbenchers, rather than having much authority himself. The Online Safety Bill has already been significantly changed in order to get past Tory MPs, with the government dropping the duty on tech companies to remove ‘legal but harmful’ content. It is also a bill that Sunak inherited from his predecessors, rather than one that he has any personal investment in. 

There wasn’t much time for big reforms when Sunak took over – or, in his words, was ‘brought in’ – as Prime Minister. But the briefing that he is planning to get out his soapbox and start a series of ‘PM connect’ sessions around the UK shows where his focus is. It’s not on legislation but on the next election. In the coming months we will see his operation increasingly moving into campaign mode, meaning there will be fewer bills and fewer opportunities for Tory MPs to rebel.