Liz Kendall MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 20 Jan 2026 · Mobile Phones and Social Media: Use by Children · Hansard source

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  I have no desire to hang about, because this is happening to children and young people now—and because my hon. Friend would have my guts for garters if I did not act swiftly.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Mobile Phones and Social Media: Use by Children · Hansard source

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  We have given clear support through all the steps we have taken on making the encouragement of self-harm and suicide a priority offence, as is cyber-flashing. We have taken action on nudification apps, updated the guidance for school and made sure that Ofsted will carry out inspections on that. I understand that the hon. Lady is strongly of the opinion that we should act now. I believe that a short, sharp consultation is the right way forward, because families and children really need that support. At the weekend, over 40 organisations signed a letter saying why they think a ban is the wrong approach. I think it is right to listen to them, because we have to lead, but we also have to listen and try to bring people with you.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Mobile Phones and Social Media: Use by Children · Hansard source

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  You have taken the words right out of my mouth, Mr Speaker. Finally, the hon. Lady asked about my personal position. I believe it is right and responsible to act swiftly, but to do so by carrying out a proper consultation. Let me tell the House what my position is: I will act, I will get results, and I will deliver for the British people.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  Madam Deputy Speaker gave me a look just now that said, “speed up your answers”—I know that is what she did, so I will. Tech can be a force for good or bad. I am so passionate about this because I believe that it can be a force for good, including the proper education of children and young people. On that point I definitely agree with my hon. Friend.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  Patience is not my greatest virtue. I want us to act faster and more firmly, and I am sure that that message will be heard loud and clear by Ofcom and by X, which has the power to sort this out now.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  Absolutely no options are off the table. As I said to the Opposition spokesperson, the Online Safety Act includes a backstop power: if Ofcom decides that X has repeatedly refused to comply with the law, it can apply to a court for serious business disruption measures. My hon. Friend is right to raise the issues around protecting children. This is the most abhorrent crime. That is why this Government have been so strong on this. I am very happy to meet with her and talk to her Committee about what other steps we need to take. We will make sure that children are protected, no ifs and no buts.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a formidable campaigner on all these issues. The Minister for Online Safety and I are happy to meet with her to discuss all those ideas further.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for her questions. I think I have said to the House before that patience is not my greatest virtue, but that is because the public and, most importantly, victims want to see this happen quickly. I said in my statement that I expect—because the public expects—Ofcom to do this swiftly. We do not want to wait months and months for action. I am of course happy, as is the Online Safety Minister, to meet her to discuss further steps. There are clear responsibilities here in terms of enforcement of the law on individuals and their behaviour, but the Online Safety Act, which I know her party voted for, does place some of those requirements on Ofcom. We have to see action, and I am sure that that message will be heard loud and clear today.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  Yes, absolutely. We all worry about what happens to our constituents, our family, our friends and the people who work with us if they have the temerity to speak out. We will not be bullied, we will not be cowed, and I know for sure that my right hon. Friend will not.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for her comments, for her letter to me—I hope that she has received the reply; I tried to get that done as quicky as possible—and for her passionate campaigning on this issue. She knows that I and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport have been engaging deeply with colleagues on the issue of AI and copyright. We will update the House on next steps on that by 18 March. The hon. Lady knows that I want to find a way that backs our world-beating creatives, but also enables us to ensure that our world-leading AI developers and academics can use the technology too. That is no easy task, but I am determined to find a way forward. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. This is a real test case. People want to see action. They want to see the laws of this land upheld. I am sure that Ofcom knows, and will hear once again from Members in this House, that that is what it needs to do to gain people’s trust and their belief that this will work.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  Let me just keep to the point about AI chatbots. We are confident that some are covered by the legislation, but officials have told me that they believe some are not. I am currently working this issue through. I want to move swiftly, but I want this work to be effective, for all the reasons we have said. I am happy to meet with my hon. Friend to discuss that further.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I hope I have made clear my position on that, on the legislation and on my expectations, but I am more than happy to discuss it further with the hon. Lady.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  Non-consensual intimate images of women bloodied and bruised, women in bikinis and child sexual abuse are not freedom of speech—they are abuse.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I was going to say that I was grateful to the hon. Lady for her support for Ofcom’s action and investigations, and her support for our action on banning nudification apps, and that I hope she and her party will actually vote for the Crime and Policing Bill in its final stages, but she then began her own campaign of misinformation in the House. I merely stated the facts about the Online Safety Act. There is a backstop power in the Act, which I remind her that her party voted for in government. Under that power, in the most serious cases, if Ofcom believes that a company is refusing to comply with the law, Ofcom has the power to apply to a court for serious business disruption measures to stop people accessing a platform. If she disagrees with her own Government’s legislation, she should make that clear to the House. The legislation is extremely clear that it is a criminal offence to share or attempt to share non-consensual intimate images. It is going to be illegal to create or ask to create those images. The ban on nudification apps will be an important change. As I have said, this is nothing to do with freedom of speech; it is about upholding British values and the British law. I also gently point out to the hon. Lady, who mentioned our allies in the United States, that the President signed the Take it Down Act, which deals precisely with non-consensual intimate images. Maybe she should do a little bit more research, rather than just reading headlines, online or in newspapers. I think the public will be clear about what change they want, and I genuinely hope that this is something we can work on across the House. It is because I am such a champion of freedom of speech that I do not want women to be bullied or harassed off any platform, and want their views and voices heard. The hon. Lady’s colleagues might wish that she would take the same approach; I see that from their faces.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I will do anything I can to ensure that this is sorted in every part of our proud United Kingdom. If the hon. Lady has further ideas, I hope she will write to me about them, because I am keen to see them.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to the last Government for establishing the AI Security Institute, because, as my hon. Friend will know, it is a world leader. Its job is to monitor in depth, working in partnership with those companies, the harms that are there. I am in regular contact with the institute, which I think is very important, because I believe that the potential of AI can be used for great good—but only if it is safe.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend raises a really important issue. Everybody in the House knows how long it took to pass the Online Safety Act, and by the time it was implemented, things had moved on very quickly. The question of how we move as quickly as the technology is moving is critical, and I am considering that issue deeply.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  Yes, I will. I know that X replied to Ofcom on Friday about what action it had taken. I have not seen that, but I will ask to see it. Of course I want to see whether it is making the proper risk assessments as quickly as possible.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I will do whatever it takes, and I know that is what the whole Government think. In particular, this is a personal priority for the Prime Minister. The people who abuse children find a way to do it, in every century and any different form. Our job is to find that and stop it, and that is what we will do.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  Other countries have different legislative systems. I believe that our Online Safety Act 2023, along with the other measures that I have mentioned, is one of the most comprehensive ways of addressing this issue. The hon. Lady is right to speak of the need for speedy and swift action, and that point has been made time and again in the House, but the Government’s determination to tackle violence against women and girls comes from the top down and goes right across every Department. I should have said earlier that the Minister for Digital Government and Data, who is a joint Minister in DSIT and in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is looking at the issue of advertising, including the monetisation of some of these behaviours. “Follow the money” is a really important issue, and we want to address it.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I am genuinely grateful to my hon. Friend for all the work she and her Committee have done on this issue. I have read its work in detail since coming into post. She will know that I have already said on the issue of AI chatbots, for example, that some are covered by the Act—if they do live searches or share user-to-user content—but I have asked my officials to see where there are gaps. They have said that there are gaps, and I have said that I want to plug them, including by legislating, if that is necessary. This is a fast-moving area. With the Online Safety Act, plus the additional measures we have taken in the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and that we will take in the Crime and Policing Bill, we have quite a comprehensive suite of powers here, but I know this is developing quickly, particularly around generative AI. I am always prepared to look to the facts and the evidence and go where that leads me, and if I need to take further action, I will.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a powerful champion on this issue. I am a feminist; I believe in deeds, not words. The deeds and the action will provide the proof that the very tough legislation already in place must be implemented—British rule of law. Ofcom needs to act, and swiftly.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend and I discussed this matter just last week. I completely agree with her that we need to get our views and voices out on a whole range of other platforms. I and many Ministers make that point regularly, and I think there is much more that we could do. We will keep the issue under review. As I spelled out in my statement, there is an argument, which the director general of the BBC made, about keeping a voice on a platform that is used by so many people, but I understand her concerns and we will keep this under review.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I think—

• 12 Jan 2026 · Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes · Hansard source

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  I thank my right hon. Friend for her important point about the impact on facts, democracy and rule of law. I know that she takes this extremely seriously, and so do the Government. The Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology has written about misinformation, and I recently gave evidence about that to the Committee. I want to reassure my right hon. Friend that we are considering all those issues because, as I said, we want to uphold British values and the law, as well as the facts—that is a crucial issue in this whole debate, because there can be significant consequences if that does not happen.