Online Safety Bill: Bishop of Manchester voices support for collaborative production of the bill

On 6th July 2023, the House of Lords debated the Online Safety Bill in the first day of the report stage. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in favour of a government amendment to the bill introducing a new introductory clause setting out the purpose and duties of the act, and voiced his support for the collaborative way in which the bill had been produced:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I too support the Minister’s Amendment 1. I remember vividly, at the end of Second Reading, the commitments that we heard from both Front-Benchers to work together on this Bill to produce something that was collaborative, not contested. I and my friends on these Benches have been very touched by how that has worked out in practice and grateful for the way in which we have collaborated across the whole House. My plea is that we can use this way of working on other Bills in the future. This has been exemplary and I am very grateful that we have reached this point.

Hansard