Cabinet minister doubles down on Farage on side of 'people like Jimmy Savile' claim

A Cabinet minister has doubled down on her colleague Peter Kyle's claim that Nigel Farage is on the side of people like Jimmy Savile.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the Reform UK leader is "happy for there to be a free for all on the internet" over his pledge to scrap the Online Safety Act. Tech Secretary Mr Kyle had said repealing the laws would put Mr Farage on the side of "people out there who are extreme pornographers peddling hate, peddling violence".

Under the legislation,which came into force last week, tech companies have been ordered to bring in age verification tools, tame toxic algorithms and remove harmful content.

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In comments branded "disgusting" by Mr Farage, the Cabinet minister went on: "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."

Pressed on whether she agreed with Mr Kyle's comments, Ms Alexander said today: "Nigel Farage is, in effect, saying that he is on their side because he's saying he's wanting to repeal the Online Safety Act."

She added: "I think that the position of Reform in saying that they want to repeal the entirety of the Online Safety Act, which is one of the most important pieces of legislation when it comes to the protecting of our children and the safety of young people online, I think that, in effect, what Nigel Farage is saying is that he's totally happy for there to be a free for all on the internet.

"That's not the position of the Labour Government. It's not the position of me. It's not the position of Keir Starmer or Peter Kyle, and that is the point that the Technology Secretary was rightly making yesterday."

Mr Farage said on Monday that Reform UK would abolish the Online Safety Act if it got into power. In a post on X, Mr Farage responded: "Peter Kyle's comments on Sky News are disgusting. He should do the right thing and apologise."

He added during a live stream: "Just how low can the Labour Government sink in its desperation? Yes, of course they're in trouble. They're well behind us in the opinion polls. But frankly, to say that I would do anything that would in any way aid and abet people like Jimmy Savile, it's so below the belt it's almost not true."

Keir Starmer defended 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."

The PM 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."

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