Keir Starmer has told MPs he is open to the idea of an Australian-style ban on social media for young people after becoming concerned about the amount of time children and teenagers are spending on their phones.
The prime minister told Labour MPs on Monday evening he had become alarmed at reports about five-year-olds spending hours in front of screens each day, as well as increasingly worried about the damage social media is doing to under-16s.
Starmer has previously opposed banning social media for children, believing such a move would be difficult to police and could push teenagers towards the dark web.
However with cross-party political support growing for such a ban, the prime minister told a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party that he had shifted his position.
“We are looking at Australia, there are different ways you can enforce it,” he told the meeting.
He also addressed the use of phones during school time, adding: “No one thinks you should have phones in schools.”
One minister who attended the meeting said: “It was definitely a change in tone and I think a lot of colleagues will have welcomed it. Keir gave the impression that all options are on the table.”