LONDON — The Labour government of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has confirmed it will continue the controversial full review of British pornography laws ordered by former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 2023.
The initiative was in limbo after Sunak’s resignation following his party’s defeat in July, which ended 14 consecutive years of Tory rule under five prime ministers.
A representative of the review told XBIZ on Thursday that the team had been waiting to hear from new ministers “to understand the future of the review and where or whether it fits in with this government’s plans,” but could now confirm that the review will proceed as planned and “aims to report this year.”
Sunak’s mandate to the review team was to review “all legislation covering pornography both on and offline” in order to “ensure that it is ‘fit for purpose’ in tackling exploitation and abuse,” Conservative newspaper the Telegraph reported in 2023.
To date, the team has been headed by Baroness Gabrielle Bertin, a Conservative member of the unelected House of Lords. Bertin has stated that the review aims to “future-proof” the law as technology evolves.
A Biased Survey of 'the Impact of Pornography'
As XBIZ reported, earlier this year Sunak’s government released a public questionnaire soliciting opinions from the general public about “the impact of pornography” and “the effect of porn on relationships, mental health and attitudes towards women and girls.”
A Free Speech Coalition representative told the BBC at the time that it was “wary” of the review’s framing of sexual expression as “a threat and a societal harm,” but hoped the Tory government was “honest in its invitation to involve the adult industry in this discussion” and not merely using it as a “pretext for censorship.”
Sunak’s review plan was unveiled shortly prior to the passage of the controversial Online Safety Act. The former PM stated at the time that because there have been “different regimes that address the publication and distribution of commercial pornographic material offline, such as videos, and online,” the government wanted to “ensure any pornography legislation and regulation operates consistently for all pornographic content.”
The U.K. has no constitution or blanket free-speech protection like the U.S. First Amendment.
Bertin is a career politician with a degree in French from Southampton University and does not appear to have any advanced education or professional background in any area relevant to such a review. She is best known as a close associate of former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, for whom she acted as spokesperson.
Bertin’s first statement in her new role asserted that “the damaging impact that extreme pornography is having on society cannot be allowed to continue unchecked.”
Since then, review staffers have contacted XBIZ, industry trade group Free Speech Coalition and other stakeholders, seeking to establish a dialogue about the review process.