Sir Keir Starmer has been warned he is ‘not reading the room’ after unveiling new police crackdown to treat ‘far right thugs’ like football hooligans in the wake of violence on Britain’s streets following the Southport knife attack.
Reform MP Lee Anderson suggested that the Prime Minister had failed to understand public anger over the killings.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister condemned the ‘mindless minority’ who have delivered nights of chaos since Monday’s tragedy.
He hit out at a ‘gang of thugs’ who travelled by train and buses to Southport and attacked police.
There has also been mayhem in London, Hartlepool and Manchester leading to scores of arrests.
In a message on social media, Mr Anderson warned the PM was ‘not reading the room’.
As part of a crackdown on organised riots and the ‘far right’, the PM said a new ‘national capability’ across police forces would tackle violent disorder.
This will see forces share intelligence – such as spikes in train ticket sales that could be linked to rioting – and deploy facial recognition technology.
The proposal to roll out the use of facial recognition technology, which is used routinely only in London and South Wales, triggered a backlash from civil liberties groups.
Silkie Carlo, of Big Brother Watch, said the ‘alarming’ plan would extend the use of ‘dangerously inaccurate’ technology which is widely used in Russia and China but ‘banned in Europe’.
She added: ‘To promise the country ineffective AI surveillance in these circumstances was frankly tone deaf and will give the public absolutely no confidence that this government has the competence or conviction to get tough on the causes of these crimes and protect the public.’
Police chiefs will also be encouraged to restrict the movement of known agitators in a similar way to how football banning orders are used to stop hooligans attending games.
Sir Keir earlier held crisis talks with senior officers in No10 and said the discussions centred on ‘a response both to the immediate challenge, which is clearly driven by far right hatred, but also all violent disorder that flares up’.
Sir Keir Starmer today announced a new National Violent Disorder Programme to crackdown on those causing violence and unrest on Britain’s streets.
According to No10, this will bring together the best policing capabilities from across the country to share intelligence on the activity of violent groups so officers can swiftly intervene to arrest them.
Local insight and data will be used to gain a ‘national understanding’ of where criminals are operating.
This will include the British Transport Police issuing an alert if they see a spike in train ticket sales that could be linked to organised violent disorder.
There will also be efforts to deploy facial recognition technology more widely across the country.
In a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister said talks with police chiefs also included discussions about ‘criminal behaviour orders which can be attached to convictions for these sorts of offences’.
‘I would personally like to see more use of those orders in the same way that they’re used in football hooligan cases to stop people travelling, identify and prevent their patterns of behaviour, because these are not people going to protest,’ he added.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘Communities have a right to feel safe without deliberate organised violence or thuggery in our streets.
‘Criminals need to face the full force of the law and today we made clear that the police have our strong support in keeping the streets safe.
‘We will work with senior police officers across the country to make sure there is rapid intelligence sharing and swift action to stop violent disorder and make sure criminals pay the price.’
Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: ‘We welcome any support which helps us to strengthen our policing capability to deal with these types of incidents.
‘We look forward to working with Government and receiving more details on the creation of a National Violent Disorder Programme and further work on tools such as live facial recognition.’
‘Whatever the apparent cause or motivation – we make no distinction,’ he added.
The PM also issued a stern warning to social media bosses about violence that was ‘clearly whipped up online’.
‘That is also a crime, it’s happening on your premises and the law must be upheld everywhere,’ he said.
‘We will take all necessary action to keep our streets safe.’
The PM said that ‘fear’ was ‘an understandable reaction’ following the ‘inexplicably vile attack’ on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.
But he blasted those who had not allowed the local community in the Merseyside town the ‘the time and space to grieve’.
He said they had been forced to ‘suffer twice’ after the horror killing of three girls was followed by a night of rioting on Tuesday.
‘Make no mistake, whether it’s in Southport, London or Hartlepool these people are showing our country exactly who they are,’ the PM added.
‘Mosques targeted because they’re mosques, flares thrown at the statue of Winston Churchill, a Nazi salute at the Cenotaph.’
He continued: ‘It’s not protest. It’s not legitimate. It’s crime. Violent disorder. An assault on the rule of law and the execution of justice.
‘And so on behalf of the British people who expect their values and their security to be upheld. We will put a stop to it.’
Sir Keir said ‘nobody but nobody’ involved in rioting should ‘pretend they are speaking’ for the grieving families.
Asked what his message was to Muslims after a mosque was targeted in the riots in Southport, he replied: ‘In relation to the Muslim community, let me be very clear: I will take every step that’s necessary to keep you safe.
‘Mosques being attacked because they’re mosques – the far right are showing who they are. We have to show who we are in response to that.’
Sir Keir revealed that his talks with police chiefs had included discussions about ‘criminal behaviour orders which can be attached to convictions for these sorts of offences’.
‘I would personally like to see more use of those orders in the same way that they’re used in football hooligan cases to stop people travelling, identify and prevent their patterns of behaviour, because these are not people going to protest,’ he added.
‘You don’t go to a protest with a rock in your hand. You go to commit violent disorder and we need to be really clear about that and I think those orders would help us in the preventative space.’
Despite his stern warning to social media companies, Sir Keir admitted there was ‘a balance to be struck’ with platforms in efforts to tackle misinformation online.
He said: ‘Inciting violence online is a criminal offence and that is not a matter of free speech. It is a criminal offence.
‘Clearly, in relation to platform providers, there’s a balance to be struck.
‘Social media platform providers, it’s an amazing opportunity that we all enjoy as a country that is very important to us that these platforms are there to be used for the great opportunities that they provide.
‘There is also a responsibility that goes with it. That’s a space for a mature conversation to take place.’
The PM was also asked about comments by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who insinuated the truth was being held from the public in relation to the identity of the attacker in Southport.
Sir Keir said: ‘In relation to the comments of others, look, I’m not going to stand here and cast judgment on what others are saying.
‘I know what I’m saying and I know why I’m saying it very, very clearly, which is my focus whenever I’m confronted with any questions about this is on the families and victims of those, particularly in Southport who were so affected by this.’
Sir Keir spoke at the Downing Street press conference after earlier telling senior officers ‘action will be taken’ in crisis talks with police.
After summoning police chiefs to No10, the PM told them that ‘marauding mobs’ must not be allowed to cause chaos following the outbreak of rioting after the Southport knife attack.
The PM condemned those involved in violent disorder as ‘thugs who have no interest whatsoever in the raw pain’ of the community.
Ugly scenes spread to London, Hartlepool and Manchester overnight. One Labour MP in the Greater Manchester area described the mood in his own constituency as a ‘tinderbox’.
Sir Keir said: ‘I wanted to send a message to each of you and through you, your officers, to say that this Government supports the police, supports what you are doing and to be absolutely clear: This is not protest, this is violent disorder and action will be taken.
‘So, this Government will make sure you have got the powers you need and will back you in using those powers.’
In the capital, more than 100 people were arrested after crowds in Whitehall launched beer cans and glass bottles at police and threw flares at the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.
People wearing England flags and waving banners saying ‘enough is enough’ and ‘stop the boats’ congregated outside Downing Street.
Violence flared after social media posts wrongly claimed the killing of three young girls in a knife attack in Southport was carried out by a Muslim asylum seeker who crossed the Channel in a small boat.
Scotland Yard’s Deputy Commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, National Crime Agency chief Robert Jones and chief constables from Merseyside and West Yorkshire Police all attended the No 10 meeting.
Sir Keir, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and policing minister Dame Diana Johnson spoke with the officers.
There were 19 attendees in total, including director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson, HM Chief Inspector Andy Cooke and police chiefs Serena Kennedy and John Robins from the Merseyside and West Yorkshire forces.
Serena Kennedy, the chief constable of Merseyside Police, spoke to the meeting via video link.
She told the assembled ministers and police chiefs that the force was ‘determined to get justice’ for the attack on Monday and to identify all those who took part in rioting on Tuesday in Southport.
The angry scenes in London last night included loud chants of: ‘We want our country back’ and: ‘Oh Tommy Robinson’, referring to the right-wing activist.
One man wore a shirt with the slogan: ‘Nigel Farage for Prime Minister, Tommy Robinson for Home Secretary’.
Confrontations continued late into the night in Hartlepool, where demonstrators set fire to a police car and pelted officers with missiles, including glass bottles.
Cleveland Police have so far made eight arrests, with more expected.
Police in Manchester confronted another demonstration outside the Holiday Inn on Oldham Road before dispersing the crowd after protesters started throwing beer bottles at officers and members of the public.
According to the Manchester Evening News, this incident also saw chants of: ‘We want our country back’, while a group of men were seen jumping in the path of a bus, smashing its wing mirror and assaulting a passenger.
Aldershot appears to have escaped the violence seen in other parts of the country, but a demonstration there was still met by riot police.
The string of violent incidents follows similar scenes in Southport on Tuesday, where demonstrators attacked police and set cars on fire.
Lord Walney, the Government’s independent adviser on political violence, said he hoped the meeting would examine powers to ‘refuse and prevent further so-called ‘protests’ that are being used by far right activists as a vehicle for serious disorder and violence’.
He said: ‘There is a right to protest in the UK but that is not a right to riot.’
The meeting came after a 17-year-old was charged with the murder of three girls in the knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class appeared at Liverpool Crown Court and was named as Axel Rudakubana, from Banks in Lancashire.
He is charged with the murder of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in Southport on Monday.
He is also charged with the attempted murder of yoga class instructor Leanne Lucas, businessman John Hayes and eight children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as with possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade.
He was remanded to youth detention accommodation and will next appear in court in October.