Tuesday evening’s Newsnight sparked outrage over a guest’s attitude towards Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf, with viewers labelling her “smug”.

The backlash came as host Matt Chorley discussed with Labour peer Thangam Debbonaire and Yusuf the arguments surrounding the Online Safety Act.

The Government’s latest move to protect children online means that websites operating in the UK with pornographic content must now robustly age check users.

Criticising the move, Reform’s Yusuf argued: “First of all, as someone who built a tech company and understands tech, frankly, unlike the dinosaurs who actually wrote this bill, what we need to do is ensure that children are actually protected.”

As he spoke, Debbonaire leaned her head on her hand against the sofa and closed her eyes.

Yusuf continued: “What we actually haven’t talked about here is this act makes children less safe.

“The evidence of that is four of the top five most downloaded apps in the Apple App Store as we speak, are VPNs.

“These are virtual networks that allow children to spoof their location anywhere in the world.

“The 13 to 16 year-olds – anyone who’s encountered a 13 to16 year-old these days will tell you they will run rings around most baby boomers who draft this legislation.

“And what that then means is they’re much more likely to go to places like the dark web.

“And I want to say this too, if you’re a parent, it’s really important you know this… Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security if you set parental controls and monitoring with your ISP with Sky internet, EE internet, BT internet – those VPS-“

“Other VPNs are available,” Debbonaire cut in as Chorley suggested: “Let me bring Thangham in.”

Turning to Chorley, Debbonaire sarcastically responded: “Why? I think he’s fine on his own – just let him talk.”

“Ok, let’s talk at the same time because that’s that’s no good for anyone,” Chrorley pointed out.

Several X users blasted Debbonaire’s behaviour, with one fuming: “She is the embodiment of all smug, sneering, Liberals. They are vile, rude, nasty people.”

“That guest is very disrespectful to the people who pay the license fee. Appalling,” a second commented.

“Who is this rude woman? @Ofcom @bbcnewsnight I am genuinely concerned by her behaviour and disregard to @ZiaYusufUK comments. I was schooled on vpns by my 13 year old son, TWO YEARS AGO!!” someone else agreed.

“WOW!!! And this woman is in the Lords? Such rude and obnoxious behaviour,” another shared.

“That awful.dismissive Labour woman. So unprofessional. He body language shows the opposite of what she’s trying to portray. Despite trying to be dismissive she sees Reform are a dangerous force to Labour,” penned another X user.

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One more commented: “Why was the woman being so disrespectful? If she doesn’t want to be there, she should give the space to someone who does.”

However, others challenged Yusuf’s view, with one writing: “What a bad take. Useless. Why is he even in the public eye, he offers nothing.”

“I aspire to this level of ‘stfu’ you moron,” another wrote. (sic)