Britain will have the toughest internet laws in the world, ministers pledge today, as the Government brings in new legislation to protect children online in the wake of the Telegraph's campaign for a statutory duty of care.

Jeremy Wright, the Culture Secretary, and Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, today unveil their White Paper spelling out plans for a duty of care enforced by a new independent regulator.

Mr Wright said the reforms were the "best way of setting clear, concrete responsibilities for tackling harmful content or activity online" as he paid tribute to this newspaper's nine month campaign.

The regulator will have powers to impose fines on firms for breaches and to potentially prosecute named directors held liable for what happens online, ban errant platforms from internet searches and even block their access to UK users.

It will draw up legally-enforced codes of practice requiring the firms proactively to prevent and take down illegal content such as terror and child abuse images within fixed timescales, and remove harmful material such as that promoting self-harm or suicide.

The regulator will also have powers to enforce age limits that bars under 13s from their sites, ban algorithms that drive “extreme and unreliable” content to users to keep them online and police effective, easy-to-access complaints systems where the companies have to respond within agreed time limits.