Giving children phones is the same as giving them cigarettes - they must be banned in schools, warns top Tory
Giving children smartphones is the same as giving them cigarettes, shadow education secretary Laura Trott has said.
Renewing her call for ministers to ban phones in schools, she said they were just as inappropriate for pupils as tobacco.
And she also criticised the Government over plans to have screen-based testing for Reception children, saying it 'normalises' tablets.
Mrs Trott has forbidden her own three children from owning a smartphone until they are 16, and believes other parents should do the same.
Yesterday, she said schools implementing blanket bans would make it easier for families to follow suit at home.
She said: 'Giving children smartphones is the equivalent of giving them cigarettes.
'Children are increasingly glued to their phones, often at the cost of real social interactions, their well-being and attainment.
'Countries around the world have woken up to the damage phones are doing to young people, but Labour are still dragging their feet.'
Mrs Trott, MP for Sevenoaks, has previously said it is her 'mission' to get ministers to legislate for mobile phones to be banned in schools.
Non-statutory guidance was issued to this effect under the Tories in 2024 - but schools were not legally obliged to follow it.
Earlier this year, the Tories tabled an amendment to the Schools Bill which would have made phone bans in classrooms the law, but it was defeated by Labour MPs.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has previously branded the proposal a 'headline-grabbing gimmick'.
Yesterday, Mrs Trott said this was 'wrong' and added: 'Even the Department for Education's own evidence shows half of GCSE classes are disrupted daily by phones.
'Another U-turn from this Government is inevitable, so they should act now: ban smartphones in schools, shift homework off screens, and reset the norm on when children get their first phone, before it's too late.'
She added in comments to Politics Home: 'One of the best things we can do for pupils' mental health in schools is to take out the phones.'
Last week, it was revealed the Department for Education (DfE) had written new guidelines requiring schools to assess Reception-age pupils using screens.
Grilling ministers in the Commons yesterday, Mrs Trott said: 'The Secretary of State may have dismissed banning smartphones in schools as a gimmick but teachers, health professionals and parents are all calling for action to reduce children's screentime.
'Every day, we have new evidence of the harm screens are doing.
'So why is the Education Secretary ignoring this and still pressing ahead with screen-based assessments for children as young as four from September?
'Does she accept that this is normalising screentime for young people, which is the opposite of what we should be doing?'
Education minister Stephen Morgan ducked the testing question and replied: 'There's guidance already in place for schools, the majority of schools already have a ban in place on mobile phone use.'
According to the Government, 97 per cent of schools restrict mobile phone use in some way.
It comes after the Government's National Behaviour Survey found 46 per cent of GCSE pupils reported phones causing disruption in most or all lessons.
In addition, a Canadian study found teenagers who spend more than two hours a day scrolling on their phones double their risk of developing anxiety and quadruple their chances of depression.
Meanwhile, a separate poll found a quarter of 11 to 18-year-olds in the UK now spend the majority of their free time outside school scrolling on their phones.
The poll by the charity OnSide, found half of these - 52 per cent - want to break their addiction and reduce their screen time, but do not know how.
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