More than 200 constituents have been in touch with me in the past couple of weeks about the Safer Phones Bill, which was debated in Parliament on Friday.
I'm very disappointed that the Government decided to pull the plug on the Bill, and to defer the decision of when to raise the age of digital consent to 16. This is an incredibly important step to protect our children from the addictions of smart phones and social media. It's our job as parents and as society to set the parameters that our children grow up in. This was an opportunity to protect young people, which regrettably the Government has not taken.
When this matter is back before the Government I will be supporting all steps that can be taken to make childhood less digital, keep children safe online and restore some of the joy of the offline world that we grew up in. Children need to grow into the digital world in a way that is safe. I will keep pushing for that.
