Online safety campaigners reveal Starmer frustrations after Phillips exit
Internet safety and children’s rights campaigners have accused Keir Starmer of failing to act on proposals to stop children sending and receiving nude images on their phones, after Jess Phillips resigned from the government saying she was tired of seeing “opportunities for progress stalled and delayed”.The Labour politician was one of four ministers who quit on Tuesday and joined more than 80 MPs calling for the prime minister to go.In a coruscating letter she focused on a lack of urgency and boldness in tackling child abuse images, accusing Starmer of failing to take action to stop children being able to take or send naked pictures.She said: “Over a year ago I presented solutions, long worked on by brilliant civil servants, that would end the ability for children in the UK to take naked images of themselves.“We could stop this abuse.
It has taken me a year to get you to agree to even threaten to legislate in this space.Not legislate, just threaten.This is the definition of incremental change.Nothing bold about it.The announcement was meant to be in March.
”Hannah Swirsky, head of policy and public affairs at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), said campaigners had been pushing for the government to force tech companies to block the ability to send and receive naked images on devices belonging to children.“This technology exists, it can be implemented and it would be a big step in stopping the proliferation of child sexual abuse images because it would stop a significant number of them being produced at source,” she said.Campaigners had hoped the government’s violence against women and girls strategy, published in December, would include plans to force tech companies to make the image blocker a default feature on children’s phones if they did not take action voluntarily.Instead, the strategy promised to “join forces with tech companies so we can work together to make [blocking images] a reality and better protect young people from grooming, extortion, bullying, harassment and sexual abuse.”In 2024, 91% of the reports of child sexual abuse images received by the IWF that were found to be criminal contained “self-generated” imagery, according to the charity’s research.
Police recorded 7,263 sexual communication with a child offences in the last year, almost double the number recorded since the offence came into force in 2017-18.“The government has been extremely slow, they have been too cautious and not gone as far as needed to tackle the issue of online child sexual abuse,” said Swirsky.Sources who had pushed on the policy behind the scenes said measures had found support in the Home Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, but had encountered a wall of inertia in Downing Street.They said that despite “private assurances” from the prime minister that he would do more to keep children safe online, it had sat on his desk “for months”.“I think there are questions to be asked about the access and the proximity of tech companies to the government and whether No 10 has been prioritising trade deals over online safety,” they said.
“It felt like some of the people who were advising on this decision were too close to the tech companies.”Others described a deep frustration at an “incremental” approach to change, saying an opportunity had been missed.“If we did this then the UK could be the world leader in tackling online child abuse, because other countries would have to follow – it’s just been painful to watch the complete lack of action.”Andy Burrow, CEO of the Molly Rose Foundation, said campaigners were “deeply frustrated” at the “logjam” that proposals had faced at the top of government.“The frustrations that Jess has expressed publicly today are the same frustrations that have been swirling privately for quite some time, and deservedly so,” he said.
“There is just this sense that it’s just been stuck in treacle in No 10,”There had been hope that the measures could be included in Starmer’s king’s speech, which is expected on Wednesday, he added,“We hoped there was a chance as of the end of last week that some of this would make its way in,” he said,“But quite where we are now, given the last 48 hours, is anybody’s guess,”
Nissan ponders building cars for Chinese rivals at Sunderland plant
Nissan’s chief executive has confirmed he would consider building cars for other manufacturers at the UK’s largest car factory in Sunderland, amid talks with China’s Chery.Ivan Espinosa said Nissan was “looking at options” for Sunderland and its 6,000 workers as the struggling Japanese carmaker on Wednesday reported steep losses for the year to March.Nissan announced last week it was closing one of its two production lines at Sunderland, in north-east England, because of faltering demand for its vehicles. However, it has held talks to produce vehicles on behalf of Chery, according to industry sources. Chery is pushing aggressively into the UK and Europe with its Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda brands
Global oil inventories falling at record pace amid Iran war; UK bond recovery fizzles out as Streeting ‘prepares challenges’ – business live
Global oil stocks are being run down at a record pace as supply losses mount due to the ongoing Iran war, the International Energy Agency has warned.In its latest outlook report, the IEA reports that global oil inventories fell by 129 million barrels in March, and by a further 117 million barrels in April, as countries dipped into their reserves to cover the shortfall following the Middle East conflict.The IEA, which ordered the largest release of government oil reserves in its history in mid-March, reports:double quotation markMore than ten weeks after the war in the Middle East began, mounting supply losses from the Strait of Hormuz are depleting global oil inventories at a record pace.The IEA also forecasts weaker demand this year, as the jump in prices for crude oil and refined products leads to demand destruction.World oil demand is forecast to contract by 420,000 barrels per day this year, to 104m bpd, which is 1
Datacentres using 6% of electricity supply in UK and US, research says
Datacentres are consuming 6% of electricity in the UK and US, with the growing strain of AI on energy supplies prompting community resistance, according to research.The proportion of electricity used by vast warehouses stacked with microchips to power AI and the internet has risen 15% worldwide in the past two years as annual global investment in datacentres approaches $1tn (£740bn) – nearly 1% of the global economy, according to the International Data Center Association (IDCA).The figures come amid energy shortages in the UK and datacentre developers reporting waits of several years for national grid connections. The IDCA said rising power usage globally was “sparking societal and political concerns” and called on tech companies to become more transparent about their plans for new datacentres to tackle “community frustration”.The Guardian this week reported that developers working for Google significantly misstated how much carbon two proposed AI datacentres would contribute to the UK’s total emissions
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang joins other US bosses on Trump trip to China
The billionaire chief executive of the chipmaker Nvidia, Jensen Huang, has joined Donald Trump’s China delegation after a reported last-minute invitation, highlighting the US’s AI and tech ambitions.Huang will join a roster of US bosses including the Tesla chief executive and X owner, Elon Musk, the Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, and Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon at Trump’s 36-hour meeting with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.The high-stakes summit is the first overseas trip for Trump since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February. The summit is expected to cover topics including that conflict, tariffs and China’s relationship with Taiwan.Huang was not on the initial list of business delegates, according to reports
England v New Zealand: second women’s ODI delayed by rain – live
Good news: we’re going to have an inspection at 1.15pm BST. The worry? The forecast means we’re probably down for further interruptions.The first men’s Test of the summer starts on 4 June, but we’ve already got the squad. Zak Crawley has lost his place and I’m assuming it’ll be Emilio Gay to open alongside Ben Duckett
Gay, Rew and Baker called up to England Test squad and Robinson in from cold
Emilio Gay, James Rew and Sonny Baker are the three uncapped players in a 15-man England squad for the first Test against New Zealand next month. Ollie Robinson returns to the setup after a two-year absence.As part of the wash-up from the Ashes, England have a new selector in Marcus North – now confirmed – and vowed to pay more attention to county form. Gay, averaging 92 under North at Durham this season, and Rew, 22 years old and having already scored 12 centuries for Somerset, fit the bill in this regard.Which of the pair makes the final XI for the first Test – which begins at Lord’s on 4 June – remains to be seen with the only obvious vacancy in the top seven at opener
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