Starmer promises ‘game changer’ on social media
The government will impose a crackdown on teenagers’ use of social media “very quickly” after the consultation on the issue closes tonight, Sir Keir Starmer has said. Speaking during a visit to a nursery in East Sussex, the prime minister declared that the “question now is not whether we do something, we are going to act”, and described the forthcoming intervention as a “game changer”. He added that the government had taken powers earlier this year to enable it to move swiftly.
Starmer, who is due to meet bereaved parents in Downing Street this afternoon, declined to specify which of the various options under consideration – including a potential ban for under‑16s similar to Australia’s – the government will adopt. The consultation, launched by the science and technology secretary Liz Kendall, ends at 11.59pm tonight. Downing Street was unable to provide further details on what the prime minister meant by a “game changer”, with a spokesperson saying only that “this demands a big response”.
Medical academy warns of ‘unflinching’ harm
Powerful new evidence submitted to the consultation by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges paints a stark picture of the damage social media is inflicting on children and young people. The academy’s chair, Professor Jeanette Dickson, said the issue had united clinicians “resoundingly”, ranking “alongside smoking and wearing seatbelts in cars as a unifying force for the medical profession”. In a foreword to the submission, she wrote that while some may argue about correlation rather than direct causation, “there is, I think, an overwhelming consensus that excessive screen time can harm children and young people and we need to call this out unflinchingly rather than passively wait for someone else to prove causation”.
The submission describes an extraordinary meeting held by the academy last year at which clinicians from every branch of medicine reported seeing harm daily. The list of symptoms is wide‑ranging: from GPs dealing with a dramatic rise in adolescents seeking help for anxiety or body image issues, to emergency department doctors treating teenagers rushed in with loss of vision or hearing – symptoms of non‑fatal strangulation. Paediatricians, psychiatrists, optometrists, obstetricians and gynaecologists all gave evidence.
According to the submission, four in ten GPs say they see young people with medical problems linked to screen use multiple times a week. The academy does not recommend a specific ban but says it is for the government to decide what must be done, while arguing that clinicians urgently need more guidance on how to handle the problems.
The report’s conclusion is blunt: “The harm being done to children online is not hypothetical, not statistical, and not waiting for proof offered by peer‑reviewed studies of certain causation. It is immediate, it is documented, and it is happening at scale.” It criticises successive governments for “an art form of inaction”, comparing the failure to act with earlier delays on seatbelt laws and smoking legislation, where “the causal mechanism was hiding in plain sight – and the population paid the price”.
“Locker-room banter” is a pathetic excuse for blatant misogyny from a grown man.
Reform could have called out the overt sexism and condemned it. Instead, they framed it as an “establishment hit job”.
Tells you everything you need to know about them. 🦖 https://t.co/oblTXCcDLN
— Luke Charters MP (@lukejcr) May 26, 2026
Political battle lines drawn
The Conservatives have attempted to claim credit for the impending crackdown. Shadow education secretary Laura Trott said that “just months ago Labour said a social‑media ban wasn’t on the table” and that the party only gave in because Conservative peers forced the issue and because Kemi Badenoch “secured this consultation by forcing the issue – and Keir Starmer only gave in because he risked losing a Commons vote”. She added: “There should be no more excuses and no more delay.”
Former health secretary Wes Streeting, who is running an undeclared leadership campaign, also weighed in, comparing social media giants to the tobacco industry and accusing them of suppressing evidence of harm “akin to Big Tobacco”. He told the Today programme that “legislators, regulators, have been asleep at the wheel” and that the precautionary principle should apply, meaning that even if the evidence is still emerging, the visible consequences of “unchecked harm” demand action. Streeting, who has the necessary 81 Labour MPs to launch a leadership challenge but is holding back to allow Andy Burnham to return to parliament in the Makerfield by‑election, admitted he had pushed for tougher action in cabinet committees but been “behind the curve” initially. He said the government was now moving to a “better position”.
The debate over children’s social media use is not the only political controversy of the day. Starmer used his appearance in East Sussex to call on SNP leaders to explain why they did not realise that Peter Murrell, the former party chief executive, had been embezzling more than £400,000 for luxury goods. Murrell has admitted the offences. Both Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister and Murrell’s former wife, and John Swinney, the current first minister, have said they were unaware of his activities. Starmer said: “I think anybody looking at what’s happening up in Scotland will be baffled that those at the top of the SNP say they didn’t know anything about what was going on.”
In the Makerfield by‑election, Reform UK candidate Robert Kenyon faces mounting pressure over a series of sexist and anti‑abortion comments unearthed on social media. Labour party chair Anna Turley said Nigel Farage needed to “urgently explain why he’s happy for a man who proudly admits he’s sexist to represent the people of Makerfield”. Carol Vorderman has demanded an apology after Kenyon used a now‑deleted X account to support an explicit post about her, calling him “cowardly”. Reform UK MP Danny Kruger described the posts as “inappropriate” but insisted they were “private” comments by “an ordinary man”. Labour MP Luke Charters dismissed that defence as “a pathetic excuse for blatant misogyny”.
The Green party, meanwhile, has selected Sarah Wakefield as its candidate for the Makerfield by‑election, replacing Chris Kennedy who withdrew after the Times reported he had posted conspiracy theories about attacks on Jewish community ambulances. Some Greens fear a strong showing could cost Labour the seat in a closely fought contest, particularly after a group of prominent Green activists signed a statement suggesting the party might not run a full campaign if Andy Burnham committed to proportional representation in Labour’s next manifesto.