More than four fifths (86 per cent) of adults in the south west want senior tech managers to be appointed and held legally responsible for stopping children being harmed by social media, new polling reveals.

The survey by YouGov also found that two thirds (67 per cent) of those with an opinion in the south west would want senior managers prosecuted for failures that resulted in serious harm to children.

The NSPCC, which commissioned the research, said the findings show overwhelming public support for tougher enforcement measures in the Government’s Online Safety Bill.

Currently, the legislation would only hold tech bosses responsible for failing to give information to the regulator Ofcom, and not for corporate decisions that result in preventable harm or sexual abuse.

It comes as MPs are calling on the Government to amend the Bill to hold senior managers liable for children’s safety when it returns to Parliament this month (January 16).

A number of Conservative MPs including Sir William Cash and Miriam Cates are backing the amendment which would mean tech bosses would finally be held to account if their platforms contributed to the serious harm, abuse, or death of a child.

Campaigners say the UK risks being out of step as Irish laws passed last month will hold senior tech bosses liable for online safety changes.

But they argued that making the suggested changes would cement the UK as a global authority for children’s safety online.

The move is also supported by Ruth Moss, whose daughter Sophie died by suicide after viewing harmful material on social media.

Ruth Moss said: “As far as I’m concerned, where companies wilfully break the law and put the lives of children like my daughter at risk, of course senior managers should be criminally accountable. The consequences of non- compliance are life changing for children like Sophie.

“Criminal liability drives the right behaviours in those with the most responsibility. It works in other industries and there is no reason in my mind as to why big tech executives should be treated any differently.”

Miriam Cates MP said: “It’s clear to most people that the big global tech companies are not going to wake up one day and suddenly decide to start protect children from harmful online content.

“We have seen repeated failures of Big tech to protect children from the horrors of sexual exploitation, pornography and content that draws them into self-harm and suicide, and sadly the Online Safety Bill as it stands will not stop this.

“The only way to secure the change we desperately need is to make senior directors personally responsible for failures to protect children and that’s why I urge all MPs to support this amendment to include senior manager liability in the Online Safety Bill.”

The amendment has cross-party support including from the Labour frontbench.

Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell MP said:”Labour has long called for the online safety bill to be strengthened especially when it comes to the liability - including criminal liability - of social media bosses. Without these sanctions there’s a real risk that a UK regulator will be toothless.

“Yet instead of strengthening the laws, the Government has recently gutted and watered down the bill, letting social media companies off the hook and allowing harms, abuse and hate to continue.

“I welcome the campaigning work of the NSPCC to toughen this Bill.”