Bringing Pupils’ Voices to Parliament on Online Safety

Published: 8 March 2025

On March the 7th, Parliament debated the Safer Phones Bill.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been overwhelmed by the support and feedback I’ve had from parents, teachers, and children here in Bournemouth East on the topic of the Safer Phones Bill.

More than 390 people took the time to fill out my survey asking for your thoughts, and your perspectives — whether for, against, or undecided on the Bill — were invaluable. Thank you to everyone who shared their views with me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get an opportunity to share my full speech in the Commons due to the volume of MPs wanting to speak, and so I couldn’t share so many of the important points made by survey respondents.

What I did do, though, was share the contents of a letter written by Eleanor and River, pupils at St James’s CofE Primary. As they said: children cannot unsee the harmful content they come across online; and this really highlighted the importance of this issue.

After the debate, I handed the children’s letters to Sir Chris Bryant MP, a Government Minister, so the Government would hear the concerns of Bournemouth’s children first-hand. Their worries, opinions, and ideas need to be heard too.

Children in Bournemouth—and all over the country—deserve phones that are safe out of the box, not reliant on parents having to navigate a maze of tech settings. When young people are telling us they’re anxious about stumbling onto dangerous content, I believe it’s our job to respond with real protections.

I truly appreciate everyone who helped shaped my perspective through my survey. Many parents told me they want simpler options to keep children safe online and prevent shocking or addictive content from sneaking through.

And as I often say, we also need better offline alternatives—like play areas and youth clubs—so children have more to do than scroll or game their free hours away.