The issue focused on the key question of what was at stake. "It is in all our interests to act with energy, intelligence and vision," he said.

Amber Rudd, the home secretary, who has been called a political anti-climax by some within her own party, set out the government's case for action. The study would have put social media companies under new legal obligation to take down illegal material and make it easy to report such content, she said.

"We are