A LABOUR minister has claimed that Nigel Farage would be on Jimmy Savile’s side if the notorious paedophile was still alive, as the intense row over new online rules heats up.
Reform UK have reacted with fury after Technology Secretary Peter Kyle made the inflammatory accusation on Tuesday morning in response to their criticism of the Online Safety Act.
Farage’s party has said it will scrap the legislation if it wins power in Westminster, which was brought in under the Tories and which Labour have staunchly defended.
It puts strict new rules on internet companies, including imposing responsibilities on social media sites and search engines to ensure young people are not accessing harmful content like pornography or material that encourages suicide.
But it is feared that it will drive young people into even darker corners of the internet and interest in tools to get around restrictions, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), has soared.
Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, Kyle said that children have been living in a “wild west” and labelled the new law “a big step forward”.
He added: “I see that Nigel Farage is already saying that he’s going to overturn these laws. So you know, we have people out there who are extreme pornographers, peddling hate, peddling violence. Nigel Farage is on their side.
“Make no mistake about it, if people like Jimmy Savile were alive today, he’d be perpetrating his crimes online. And Nigel Farage is saying that he’s on their side.”
Asked to clarify his comments, Kyle said: “Nigel Farage is on the side of turning the clock back to the time when strange adults, strangers can get in touch via messaging apps with children.”
Farage reacted on X by calling Kyle’s remarks “disgusting” and said “he should do the right thing and apologise”.
Kyle then doubled down on his comments, and said that “if you want to overturn the Online Safety Act you are on the side of predators. It is as simple as that.”
Yusuf claimed that Kyle’s (below) remarks showed “how deeply unserious” the Government was about child safety, adding: “Talking about Jimmy Savile in that way does nothing other than denigrate the victims of Jimmy Savile.”
He told Sky News that the comments are “one of the most outrageous and disgusting things a politician has said in the political arena that I can remember. And that’s quite a high bar, frankly.”
Keir Starmer jumped to defend the legislation from its critics when he met Donald Trump on Monday, telling reporters: “We’re not censoring anyone.
“We’ve got some measures which are there to protect children, in particular, from sites like suicide sites.”
He added: “I personally feel very strongly that we should protect our young teenagers, and that’s what it usually is, from things like suicide sites. I don’t see that as a free speech issue, I see that as child protection.”
