British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday the government is extending football banning orders to include online racism.
It comes after British police opened investigations Monday into the racist abuse of three Black players who failed to score penalties in England's shootout loss to Italy in the European Championship final.
The Metropolitan Police condemned the "unacceptable" abuse of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, and said they will be investigating the "offensive and racist" social media posts published soon after Italy won Sunday's shootout 3-2 following a 1-1 draw.
"I utterly condemn and abhor the racist outpourings that we saw on Sunday night," Johnson told the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions.
But the leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer later accused the government of trying to "stoke a culture war," and then realizing that they were on the wrong side, adding "now they hope that nobody has noticed."
Johnson has faced criticism for emboldening those booing the England team for taking a knee before their matches to protest against racial injustice.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, whose department oversees police and domestic affairs, has come under particular scrutiny after she opposed what she called “gesture politics” and said fans had the right to boo.
The prime minister again backed Patel, telling the Commons that the home secretary has been fighting racism "all her life" and working "to take practical steps to advance the cause of Black and minority ethnic groups, which she has done successfully, notably in the police."
Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party in the House of Commons, also pressed Johnson on why he only met with representatives of the main social media networks on Tuesday evening, accusing him of a "shameful" delay
