Senior executives at technology companies could face personal criminal liability, including prison sentences, if their platforms fail to remove intimate images shared without consent, under sweeping new laws backed by MPs. The measure, part of the government’s massive Crime and Policing Bill, would see bosses fined or imprisoned if their firms do not comply with Ofcom enforcement notices to take down so-called revenge porn.
New powers over pornography and protest
The provision is one of several new offences targeting harmful online content. The Bill will also criminalise the possession or publication of incest pornography, and ban depictions of sex between step or foster relatives where at least one performer is, or is pretending to be, under 18. This followed a government concession to Conservative peer Baroness Bertin, the lead reviewer of the Independent Pornography Review. A further new crime targets pornography where an adult is roleplaying as a child, carrying a maximum five-year prison sentence for publication.
However, the most contentious element of the Bill concerns protest rights. The government has introduced a duty for senior police officers to consider the “cumulative disruption” caused by a protest movement when imposing conditions on demonstrations. This change, added during the Bill’s passage through the House of Lords and criticised for limited parliamentary scrutiny, has sparked fierce backlash from across the political spectrum and civil liberties groups.
Labour’s Andy McDonald, who led opposition to the measure, argued it represented a “dangerous erosion of civil liberties”. He warned it turned democratic strength into a justification for restriction, citing historical movements like the Suffragettes. Home Office minister Sarah Jones defended the change as a “small” one, insisting the government had “no desire nor would we ever reduce people’s rights to protest.” She said imposing conditions could mean moving a march’s route or limiting its duration or size.
Critics argue the definition of the “area” over which cumulative disruption is assessed is dangerously vague, potentially covering entire towns or cities. Some see the measure as a direct response to the sustained national marches for Palestinian rights. The Bill also bans the deliberate use of face coverings to conceal identity at protests, with exemptions for religious or health reasons, and prohibits possession of pyrotechnics like flares at demonstrations.
An amendment passed by the Lords against government wishes seeks to create a new category of “Extreme Criminal Protest Groups” (ECPGs). Proposed by crossbench peer Lord Walney, it would allow the banning of groups whose purpose involves deliberate serious offences for political ends, without designating them as terrorists. However, a separate bid by Lord Walney to criminalise membership or promotion of groups causing violence below the terrorism threshold was rejected by MPs.
Crackdown on fly-tipping and historic abortion pardons
In a move against environmental crime, repeat fly-tippers who use a vehicle will face receiving three to nine penalty points on their driving licence. Courts could disqualify those who accumulate 12 or more points. The government rejected a Lords proposal to explicitly empower authorities to strip offenders of their vehicles, with Ms Jones stating existing seizure powers were sufficient. Amendments debated in the Lords also sought to ensure offenders bear clean-up costs incurred by landowners, with potential new duties on local waste authorities to collect waste and reclaim costs.
In a significant shift, MPs have backed a Lords amendment to pardon women convicted of having an illegal abortion, as well as those who received cautions. It would also expunge records of investigations, arrests, and charges under abortion law, regardless of guilt. This follows a Commons vote last June to decriminalise women terminating their own pregnancies. The change ends the threat of life imprisonment under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 for women who end their own pregnancies, though abortion in England and Wales remains a criminal offence except when performed by authorised providers up to 24 weeks.
The wide-ranging Bill, described by Minister Sarah Jones as “the largest criminal justice Bill in a generation,” includes numerous other reforms. It introduces “Respect Orders” to tackle anti-social behaviour, eliminates the £200 threshold for “low level” theft, and creates a new offence of assaulting a retail worker. It also makes “cuckooing” – taking over a person’s home for crime – a specific offence, and introduces stricter rules for online knife sales.
The Bill now returns to the House of Lords for peers to consider the Commons amendments, with a final agreement between both Houses required for it to become law.
