UK porn block: Tory MPs line up to attack Government decision to scrap online age verification measures Damian Collins, the Conservative chair of the Culture Select Committee, attacked the move during an urgent question in the Commons

Tory MPs lined up to attack the Government’s decision to scrap plans to introduce an age verification system to prevent children from accessing online pornography.

Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan quietly dropped plans to introduce a so-called “porn block” on Wednesday via a written ministerial statement.

Ms Morgan said her department “will not be commencing” the necessary part of the Digital Economy Act, which concerned introducing age verification for adult websites.

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This was despite the Conservatives promising to bring in such measures back in 2015, when David Cameron warned of the “corroding” effect of online pornography on children.

Wednesday’s decision prompted outrage among senior Tory backbenchers, who demanded to know why the decision had been taken to scrap the plans altogether.

Porn block delay

Damian Collins, the Conservative chair of the Culture Select Committee, attacked the move during an urgent question in the Commons.

“There is nothing I have heard that gives any good reason that this decision has been made,” Mr Collins said.

“The decision has delayed this for at least a year, as the minister well knows, if not longer.”

Fiona Bruce, Tory MP for Congleton, branded the plans as “more than disappointing”, adding that it was “critically urgent” the Government gets a grip on access to online porn.

The former Conservative digital minister Margot James, who lost the whip last month, said the decision “came as a shock” and urged ministers not to “indefinitely suspend the plans”. She added: “For the Government to renege on its commitments in this important area is a very retrograde step.”

Culture minister Matt Warman said age verification will be done “as quickly as we possibly can”, with legislation linked to online harms undergoing “pre-legislative scrutiny in the new year”.

He also suggested £2.2 million has been spent in connection with age verification proposals, adding it would be “silly” to say it has been wasted.

Beset by mistakes

In response to an urgent question, Mr Warman said the Government’s new approach will “protect children better and more comprehensively”.

He told MPs: “I should be straightforward that it will take slightly longer to do it through this mechanism, but we will we go as fast as we possibly can and we will make sure that we deliver on the agenda in a more comprehensive way.”

Shadow culture minister Tom Watson said Mr Warman was “cleaning up yet another Government mess”, adding: “The Government’s much-vaunted age-verification policy is dead.”

Mr Watson said the policy has been “beset by mistakes, mishaps and month after month of delay” despite Labour raising concerns, adding: “We need to keep our kids safe.

“Any government taking on the tech giants will need determination and meticulous attention to detail. That has been utterly lacking thus far. The Government must not fail again.”