Online Safety Bill: Commons stages
This Briefing summarises the Commons stages of the Online Safety Bill.

The Queen’s Speech in May 2021 announced a new bill to provide the security services with the tools they need to tackle the threat from hostile activity by states. The Government subsequently published a consultation on proposals for legislation to counter state threats which closed in July 2021. This briefing paper examines the background to these proposals and concerns about the implications for press freedom.
Counter state threats legislation (148 KB , PDF)
The Government said the main elements of the bill would:
This proposal followed an announcement of the introduction of ‘espionage legislation’, to provide the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to disrupt ‘hostile state activity’. No such legislation was introduced during the 2019-2021 parliamentary session.
Following the Queen’s Speech, the Home Office published a consultation paper on ‘Legislation to Counter State Threats (Hostile State Activity)’. The consultation ran from 13 May to 22 July 2021 and sought views on three main proposals:
The consultation also asked whether there are any additional measures or existing legislation which could be updated to help address the threat from this kind of activity. It provided the example of reform of the law of treason.
The proposals relating to reform of the OSAs are the Government’s response to a review by the Law Commission into the Protection of Official Data. The review made extensive recommendations for reform of the regime contained in the OSAs 1911, 1920, 1939, and 1989.
Wider proposals to introduce new powers to deal with hostile state threats were announced following the nerve agent attack in Salisbury in 2018. The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament recommended that the Government bring forward legislation in its 2020 report on Russia.
The Government’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, published in March 2021, announced its intention to introduce legislation to counter state threats when parliamentary time allowed.
In July 2021, the Director General of MI5, Ken McCallum, suggested that their aim over time was to build the same public awareness and resilience to state threats as had been done over the years on terrorism. He described ‘state threats legislation’ as an important step towards boosting UK resilience, stating: “To tackle modern interference, we need modern powers”.
Given the long-standing calls for reform in this area and the careful consideration of the issue by the Law Commission, the proposed legislation is likely to be well received by many. However, one issue that has caused some concern relates to the freedom of the press, and freedom of expression more generally.
In the consultation paper, the Government said that it was not inclined to accept the Law Commission’s recommendation that there should be a ‘public interest defence’ for anyone charged with making an unauthorised disclosure under the OSA 1989. It also rejected the recommendation that there should be a statutory commissioner to whom allegations of criminality or wrongdoing could be reported.
These recommendations from the Law Commission reflected concerns that the current regime may not be compatible with the right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Government’s response states that it believes that existing offences are compatible with Article 10, and that these proposals could in fact undermine efforts to prevent damaging disclosures.
Another Government proposal, to increase the maximum sentence for secondary disclosures (where information is disclosed by members of the public) to bring them in line with the maximum available for primary disclosures (from members of the security and intelligence agencies and other public servants) has also caused concern.
An article in the Press Gazette suggested that the proposals amounted to treating journalists like spies for reporting on matters of public interest and said it had “caused alarm at a time when press freedom is seen as being under attack in the UK”.
A Times editorial described the proposals as “the greatest threat to public interest journalism in a generation” and called for the consultation to be abandoned.
The Government has not yet published the outcome of its consultation, which ended when Parliament went into recess on 22 July. Given the inclusion of the legislation in the Queen’s Speech, a bill is anticipated in the coming months.
Counter state threats legislation (148 KB , PDF)
This Briefing summarises the Commons stages of the Online Safety Bill.
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