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The government is trying to find a solution to banning depictions of step-incest in online pornography amid warnings of a “significant rebellion” from female MPs.
Ministers have been accused of “losing the plot” after promising to ban depictions of incest in online porn but not step-incest.
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The debate is part of efforts to crackdown on harmful pornographic content online, following a review by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin.
Her amendment calling for step-incest to be included in the ban was backed by 144 votes to 143 in the House of Lords last week, meaning it could now face a vote in the Commons.
Sky News understands efforts are ongoing to find a way around what ministers regard as a key complication – that relationships between adult step relatives are not illegal in real life.
Ministers believe this will make banning their depiction in pornography difficult to enforce.
However a “significant number” of female Labour MPs are prepared to rebel if the government does not back a ban, Sky News has been told.
One senior MP said the government’s argument “doesn’t pass the sniff test” as half of all sexual abuse cases against children are perpetrated by step-parents.
They told Sky News: “Once you are arguing about the detail you have lost the plot, it’s the principle.
“No one wants to go through the lobby and vote for step-incest porn.
“If the Conservatives are minded to back the [Bertin] amendment, it wouldn’t take huge numbers to get to a defeat.”
Another MP described the row as “more cockup than reasoning”, saying the government does support the ban in principle but “took their eye off the ball”.
“I think we will get to the right place”, they said.
The Labour leadership is on thin ice with female MPs after the Peter Mandelson and Matthew Doyle scandals and wider concerns about a Number 10 “boys club”.
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