During the 12 days of Christmas, Labour has predicted that nearly £80m will be lost to online fraud and spam over the holiday season. Ministers were criticised for the delays in the passage of the bill concerning online safety.
According to police force data that was analyzed by the party, the number of incidents of cybercrime was 312 per day in 2019/20 and 2020/21 on average. This constitutes a loss of £6.36 million per day or a loss of £76 million over the festive period as a result of fraud.
There has been criticism of Labour regarding the delay in the parliamentary process of the online safety bill. It has been alleged that the delay is letting criminals and fraudsters off the hook.
Several delays and amendments have been made to the bill over the past few years. It was anticipated that it would finish its Commons stages by the end of July. At the last minute, however, the government decided to hold a confidence vote for Boris Johnson.
Despite a row among conservative MPs over whether or not it would unfairly stifle freedom of speech online, the bill has since been stalled as ministers rewrite key sections of it.
As a result of this legislation, children will be better protected from hazardous online content and there will be a decrease in the amount of hate speech and self-harm content available online.
The government is extending the current parliamentary session, which was supposed to end in May, so it can be used as an opportunity to pass major pieces of legislation. The bill on online safety is included in this category.
Earlier this year, the Shadow Digital minister, Alex Davies-Jones MP, said that the government was giving fraudsters and criminals a free pass. However, the victim protection against fraudulent activity was broken.
There has been a growing concern that the country's government is not taking fraud seriously - however, being the biggest crime in the UK. During this Christmas holiday season, families are at risk of falling victim to online fraud and cybercrime as they struggle to make ends meet.
In addition, she stated that the online safety bill has been a significant success thanks to Labour, as it strengthens online fraud protections. But as a result of ministers' willingness to bow down to vested interests rather than stand up for consumers, the entire bill is now at risk.
Speaking for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, a spokesperson said that the government remains committed to fighting fraud and economic crime. This is regardless of what it takes.
As part of the DCMS's plans, £400m will be invested over the next three years to help police agencies respond to crimes more effectively. A report published by the company claims that over 2.7 million scams have been removed from the internet in the past year.
To ensure that the UK is the safest place to be online in the world, the government is committed to passing a world-leading online safety bill. In addition, big tech firms will be required to tackle fraud, including romance scams and fraudulent advertisements.
