Sir Keir Starmer will announce a social media ban for under-16s within the next ten days, it has been reported.The Prime Minister is said to be preparing to unveil plans to restrict online activity for children to protect them from harmful content after a nationwide consultation that closed last month.It comes as ministers claim that Sir Keir has entered his 'legacy era', with one minister saying: 'The conversations are now all "what is announceable in time before Makerfield?"' London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has already thrown his weight behind the proposal, saying tech firms must prove their services are safe for children or face a ban on being available to under-16s. Ministers have been mulling evidence from Australia, which imposed a blanket ban in December. It comes as the children's commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza proposed any ban should cover 16 and 17-year-olds, who she said should not have 'lesser protection'.'We need action to address technology companies' unfettered access to children, often through features designed in ways that increase harm,' Dame Rachel told The Telegraph.Sir Keir is to announce the plans in a speech ahead of the Makerfield by-election on June 18, when Labour leadership rival Andy Burnham will learn whether his path has been cleared to return to Westminster and challenge the Prime Minister, according to multiple reports. Sir Keir Starmer will announce a social media within the next ten days, it has been reported The move, understood to be a part of the PM's legacy, would see the UK become the second country in the world to impose such a ban. Pictured: A teenage boy uses TikTok (File image)The Times reports that the Prime Minister wants to impose bans on 'high risk' platforms while allowing children access to 'safer' apps - as opposed to blanket bans on features like indefinite scrolling. It has been reported that the UK clampdown will exclude a number of apps including YouTube Kids. A Whitehall source told The Sun on Sunday: 'The ban is coming later this month but there will be some carve outs. YouTube Kids won't be covered. 'They are still working out if messaging services on gaming channels will be covered or not. Your TikToks will kick off.'Sir Keir's differing approach to Australia is understood to have come following conversations with bereaved parents.A Downing Street source told The Times: 'The Prime Minister is not afraid about taking on the tech companies and their bosses to protect young people.' Mr Starmer is reportedly considering a 'hybrid' system, which incorporates some of the elements of the Australian ban while adding in new features, such as putting an end to indefinite scrolling and push notifications. However Downing Street has declined to comment on the imminent ban. The ban will make the UK the second country in the world to stop under-16s from using social media. But last week, Australia's online safety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said she was 'not really keen' on a blanket ban for under-16s, in a move that was seen to have broken ranks with the Albanese government. She said the world-first ban, which took effect in December 2025 and blocked over five million accounts belonging to minors, was drafted 'very quickly'.The commissioner compared the ban to trying to 'fence the ocean'.'We might be able to create some friction and some degree of safety, but it's a futile exercise if you think you're totally stemming the ocean,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald, describing the ban as a 'blunt-force approach'.The ban requires social media companies like Meta, TikTok, Google, Kick and Snapchat, to withhold access to accounts for children under 16. Data from Australia's eSafety Commission suggests that about 70 per cent of under-16s continue to access platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.Inman Grant said she is investigating the platforms for suspected noncompliance, with companies that fail to enforce the ban to face fines up to $AUD50million.In March, the Albanese government quietly tightened the ban by expanding the number of apps subject to restrictions.Australia's prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has repeatedly defended the ban, saying its goal is to allow young people to 'just have their childhood' and to give parents peace of mind.He said in January: 'It's working and being replicated now around the world. It is something that is a source of Australian pride.'Last month, British MPs warned Labour that it must ban under-18s from accessing addictive social media features. Parliament's Education Committee told the Government that children should be blocked from infinite scrolling, disappearing messages and push notification features to tackle the 'severe and systemic' harms they are suffering via devices. Ellen Roome with her son, Jools Sweeney, 14, who was discovered unconscious in his bedroom in April 2022 after what is believed to have been an online challenge gone wrongIn a report published in May, the MPs also reiterate calls for a full social media ban for under-16s to 'arrest' the harms youngsters are experiencing online.It comes as Sir Keir has prevaricated on cracking down on children's safety online – saying in April that Labour is 'going to act' but admitting he did not yet know what action to take, or when.Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said on Wednesday that social media companies should 'not have unrestricted access to our children, but the Government is still dragging its feet.'She added: 'Children are being exposed to extreme and violent content on social media every single day. 'Boys are being fed material about knives and pornography, while girls are seeing content that makes them hate themselves. It does not have to be this way.'And campaigner and bereaved mother of Jools Sweeney, Ellen Roome, told the Daily Mail: 'The Government's consultation closes next week, and ministers now have a clear opportunity - and responsibility - to act decisively.'No parent should have to discover the dangers of these platforms only after tragedy has struck.'Education Committee Chair and Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood Helen Hayes, meanwhile, urged ministers to 'take action before it is too late'. She said children and young people today 'face a deluge of serious harms whenever they log on to social media' yet social media companies have 'not taken full responsibility' for the behaviour on their platforms.The cross-party group of MPs claim that the harms experienced by children online are 'not accidental or isolated' but occur because of 'platform design choices' in the report.As such, they recommend Government impose 'clear, enforceable duties' on social media companies to prioritise child safety and bring in 'meaningful sanctions for non-compliance'.They also tell the Government to treat online harms to children 'explicitly as a safeguarding and public health issue'.The Committee's recommendations come after the PM confirmed in April that it was 'not a question of whether there's going to be something done' as Government is 'going to act'.