My Lords, I shall take that advice seriously, and fortunately I can be brief because this whole area has been clearly and cogently explained by the noble Baroness who has proposed this amendment. I am pleased to speak in support of it and I shall do so in a summary way to cover the main points. I remind noble Lords that it is the first responsibility of the Government to do all they can to keep our people safe. In that connection, there is no group more important than our children and young people.
The Government have recognised that harm can be done to our people online and are preparing legislation to deal with that—not an easy task. I have seen some of the efforts put forward so far, but on the statute book since 2017 there is legislation to protect children. It also creates a regulator with power to take robust action against any website showing illegal extreme pornography, which will help create a less hostile environment for women.
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It is notable that our present Prime Minister has responsibility for that legislation, because he was a member of the Cabinet when the 2017 legislation went on to the statute book. Accordingly, he has the honour of promoting this along with his colleagues in government at that time. As we have just heard, he has asked that something be done to protect women who walk in the street in the evening—often a risky and adversarial business.
The legislation also creates, as has been said, a regulator with power to take robust action; this is important, because it can be brought into force very quickly if we use the BBFC as the regulator for the time being. Why refuse to do that? Why expose women and children to the danger that legislation prevents and the danger the population as a whole faces as a result of the absence of the regulator? We are preparing comprehensive legislation to deal with this subject and want Ofcom to be the regulator. That is all well and good, but however comprehensive, it cannot make good the damage presently occurring that the existing legislation would have prevented if in force.
The very sad events of the last days have shown the aggressive behaviour faced by huge numbers of women who have explained in detail the kind of conduct with which they have been confronted while walking along our streets. I have not heard, so far, any suggestion of how that can be dealt with. The committee dealing with this matter said that the Government must find a solution, and I think that so far the Government are still waiting for a solution. I suggest that the solution
is right here if we put into force the legislation passed by both Houses of Parliament with the full consent of the Government in 2017.
While the government research may not prove a causation, it shows a clear relationship between pornography consumption and a higher incidence of male aggression and violence against women. That seems absolutely clear, stated by the Government. Nobody is suggesting that that is the only possible explanation of some forms of sexually aggressive and violent conduct. However, it shows that there is a relationship, and that is sufficient to show that removing it could have a beneficial effect as a contribution to the remedy of this widespread difficulty that has been manifested in the last day or two across the whole of our country. As far as I have seen, nobody has suggested a way of dealing with that as yet, whereas this is a remedy to hand. It is not, of course, a complete remedy, but it may have some considerable effect in the meantime, while we await the Bill that is in preparation, which is more comprehensive in effect.
It is difficult to solve all the problems that that Bill raises. I cannot be sure when it will come forward and we have not had a guaranteed date yet, from anybody. In the meantime, we have a weapon that has some effect as a remedy, which protects children to a considerable extent. It is right to hand, so why not implement it now? I have sent a note of what I am saying to the Minister, to give good warning of what I had in mind. This is the situation as I see it: it is an extraordinary challenge to our Government that they have to hand a remedy that would be of some effect, at least, in this serious problem that has so clearly manifested as a result of the sad death in the last few days.