Ministers have dropped plans to pass the online safety bill next week amid wrangling in the Conservative leadership race, as they were accused of having “given up on governing” by opposition parties.
The final stages of the bill, which have come under fire from some candidates vying to replace Boris Johnson who argue it will infringe on freedom of speech, were due to be completed in the Commons next Wednesday.
But a government source said the bill had been shunted to the autumn, potentially killing off a major piece of legislation because it will now be inherited by a new prime minister and potentially another culture secretary who may not support it in its current form.
The source blamed Labour tabling a no confidence motion in Johnson’s administration, the drafting which the government took issue with and so is tabling its own motion on the matter that will be debated next Monday.
Alex Davies-Jones, Labour’s shadow culture minister, said MPs’ work on the bill “might all now be for nothing thanks to the self-interest of this useless government” and called the news an “absolutely devastating blow and another example of the Tories prioritising their own ideals over people’s safety online”.
While the Conservatives committed to the bill as part of their 2019 manifesto and it will remain in the Commons rather than being killed off completely, it could be watered down by the next administration to appease those figures who have spoken out against it during the leadership contest.
Kemi Badenoch, who came fourth in Wednesday’s Tory leadership ballot, said it was the right move and the bill was “in no fit state to become law”. She added: “If I’m elected prime minister I will ensure the bill doesn’t overreach. We should not be legislating for hurt feelings.”
The move means that the Northern Ireland protocol bill, due to be completed on Monday and Tuesday next week, will be moved forward by a day – knocking the online safety bill off the Commons agenda.
A spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment. The official announcement about next week’s government business will be laid out by the Commons leader, Mark Spencer, on Thursday.
It came after Priti Patel pulled out of an MPs’ questioning session with minimal notice, while a junior health minister was sent to explain a crisis in ambulance services.
Johnson’s role is now that of a caretaker prime minister, with a brief to implement existing policies but make no significant new decisions. However, there is concern that lack of interest inside No 10 plus a huge turnover of ministers has created a power vacuum.
Andy Burrows, the head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC, said that the delay meant families would “continue to pay the price for the failure and inaction of tech firms who have allowed harm to fester rather than get their house in order”.
Patel, the home secretary, had been scheduled to update MPs on the Commons home affairs committee on Wednesday morning about policies including progress on deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda.
But late on Tuesday, Patel said she could not attend because of “recent changes in government”, without apparent elaboration.
Patel had spent days considering whether to join the crowded field to succeed Johnson as Conservative leader and thus prime minister but eventually decided against it.
Later on Wednesday, Labour was granted an urgent question on ambulance services in England, all of which have been placed on the top level of alert due to the scale of demand fuelled by factors including Covid and the current heatwave.
But rather than Steve Barclay, the health secretary, who replaced Sajid Javid last week after Javid resigned at the start of a wave of ministerial departures that removed Johnson, it was answered by Maria Caulfield, a junior minister.
Barclay’s absence was “a disgrace”, Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, told the Commons. “Our NHS is going through the biggest crisis in its history, every ambulance service is on the highest level of alert, patients are forced to wait hours in pain and discomfort, and he is yet to say a word about any of it,” Streeting said.
Downing Street has set out that Johnson, who will remain PM until 5 September, when the new leader takes over, will not make any major fiscal changes or introduce new policies.
While this officially means that even controversial policies such as the Rwanda scheme can be pushed ahead, it has since emerged that no more deportation flights are planned for now.
“This is a government that has simply given up on governing,” said Thangam Debbonaire, shadow leader of the Commons.
“From flagrant breaches of longstanding conventions to simply not turning up for the day job, ministers are running scared of scrutiny.
“The Conservatives are out of touch, out of ideas and propping up this caretaker government that’s … unwilling and incapable of governing.”
MP Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “After months of doing nothing but protect Boris Johnson, senior Conservatives now seem to have completely given up on the idea of governing the country.”
