Sir Keir Starmer has been forced into another embarrassing U-turn after female Labour MPs threatened to rebel over pornography regulation.
In a major climbdown, the Government agreed to ban the portrayal of sex between step-relatives in some circumstances following a defeat in the Lords on the issue.
The decision marks yet another U-turn by the PM since he took office, bringing the total number to at least 16.
Ministers had previously suggested a ban would be difficult because relationships between adult step relatives are not necessarily illegal in real life.
But they backed down after peers last month voted through an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to make step-relative pornography illegal.
Ministers had told Labour peers to vote against the ban because it would criminalise the portrayal of sex between adults that is lawful in real life.
Following the defeat, female Labour MPs warned No 10 that they were not prepared to vote against the amendment, forcing a climbdown.
One female Labour backbencher said that the Government had to back down to address the party’s ‘woman problem’.
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No10’s relations with female Labour MPs have deteriorated in recent months following revelations about Lord Mandelson, Jeffrey Epstein and key figures in Sir Keir’s government.
The Ministry of Justice said possession and publication of pornography showing incest between family members, and sex between step or foster relations where one person is pretending to be under-18, will be criminalised.
Publishing the banned material will carry a maximum penalty of between two and five years’ imprisonment, depending on the type of content.
Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin, who tabled the Lords amendment and led a review into pornography regulation last year, welcomed the climbdown.
David Cameron’s former press secretary said it was right that the Government planned to ban such ‘deeply harmful’ content.
‘I greatly welcome the Government’s plans to fully address harmful pornographic content such as incest, step-incest and the mimicking of child sexual abuse,’ she said.
‘This content that is freely and widely available online is deeply harmful, normalising child sexual abuse and abusive relationships within families.’
She previously warned that nearly half of sexual abuse cases were perpetrated by step parents and that a genre of porn normalised violent and abusive behaviour.
The Government has already criminalised pornography which shows women being choked after a review found such images are rife on websites and have helped to establish it as a sexual norm.
It came as ministers said they would make tech bosses personally liable if their platforms fail to remove intimate images of people shared without their consent.
Under the plans, senior executives could face imprisonment or a fine or both if their companies fail to comply with Ofcom’s demands to remove content.
The Government has tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to this effect, which will be debated in the House of Commons next week.
It will also table an amendment on a review to introduce age verification for performers in pornography and to check they’ve given their consent.