Technology Secretary Peter Kyle has sparked fury after accusing Nigel Farage of being "on the side of people like Jimmy Savile" after the Reform UK leader vowed to repeal Labour's Online Safety Act.
Speaking in a TV interview this morning, Kyle said Farage is on the side of "extreme pornographers peddling hate and peddling violence."
He said: "I see that Nigel Farage is already saying that he's going to overturn these laws. We have people out there who are extreme pornographers peddling hate, peddling violence. Nigel Farage is on their side.
"Make no mistake about it, if people like Jimmy Savile were alive today, he would be perpetrating his crimes online, and Nigel Farage is saying that he's on their side, not the side of children."
Peter Kyle has taken aim at Nigel Farage over his stance on the Online Safety Act
|GB News
Infuriated by Kyle's remarks, the Reform UK leader took to social media to demand an apology, declaring the comments "disgusting".
Kyle then doubled down on his stance, telling Farage: "If you want to overturn the Online Safety Act you are on the side of predators. It is as simple as that."
Speaking to GB News, Kyle defended his comments and claimed the views of the Reform UK leader are "grossly offensive".
He added: "Nigel Farage has said explicitly he wants to overturn that act. Words have consequences in politics, because if he gets in to power, he will overturn that act, and he will make it easier for predators and paedophiles to have access to children."
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Farage has demanded an apology from Technology Secretary Peter Kyle | GETTYIn direct criticism of Nigel Farage, Kyle stated: "There is no definitive grey areas about this. Either you're on the side of predators and paedophiles as Nigel Farage is, because he wants them to have more access to our children online.
"Than you are with the Labour Party, where we are making sure we are holding the tech companies to account, to prevent that kind of access, to keep children safer."
Pressed by host Christopher Hope on his "deeply offensive" accusations towards the Reform UK leader, Kyle responded: "I saw the words that he said. He said he will overturn the act, and he did not say a single measure that he would bring in, in specific detail.
"He could not answer any of the detail on what would come after the Online Safety Act. You can't say you're going to overturn it because you don't like it, and then deliver all the actions that the Online Safety Act does itself."
Kyle told GB News that Nigel Farage is 'on the side of 'predators and paedophiles'
|GB News
Defending his decision to "hold him to account", Kyle concluded: "You have one or the other, either you support the actions that prevent paedophiles and predators from having access to children, or you don't. And he has said that he doesn't. That's why I'm holding him to account.
"I hope the media, when they can finally interview him on this issue, will ask what he intends to do. Because if he wants to overturn this act, what on earth is he going to replace it with? That's going to do the same thing that we're doing, what, in a different way?
"It does not hold water, it does not make sense, and it firmly places Nigel Farage on the side of predators and paedophiles and not on the side of keeping children safe."