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Manchester Evening News

Business

Max Channon

GMP federation chair shares fears of energy price riots and 'unravelling of society'

Observer Police

The chairman of the Greater Manchester Police Federation has shared fears over widescale energy price riots - and a "serious risk that we will see the unravelling of society".

PC Lee Broadbent shared a poll on Twitter asking police officers if they believed forces "have the operational capacity to deal with wide-spread riots as well as routine policing".

Sharing the poll, PC Broadbent wrote: "What every chief officer publicly shies away from, every front line cop knows. It’s not that we wouldn’t passionately hold the line... it’s how long we could actually do it."

The poll contained a quote from an article in the Guardian by The Observer's chief political commentator Andrew Rawnsley.

It read: "Andrew Rawnsley writes: 'Without action to protect people from colossal increases in their bills, there is a very serious risk that we will see the unravelling of the fabric of society' Do we have the operational capacity to deal with wide-spread riots as well as routine policing?"

The poll went live shortly after 9pm on Sunday night, and by 1.30am this morning had received nearly 1,000 votes. At that point, 95.2% of responders said they believed police forces did not have the operational capacity to deal with wide-spread riots.

Commenting on the tweet, @himoverthere - who describes themselves as a "Crown Servant" - said: "As I’ve said previously, we wouldn’t even cope with riots on the scale of 2011 anymore. This has the potential to be far worse in a greater number of locations."

The Control Gal - whose twitter bio says she is a 'Mother, Police Controller, with a Special Constable side hustle, somewhere in the East Midlands' - replied: "Can’t even deal with the level of 'normal jobs', never mind wide spread riots."

Bearded Bobby - who says he is ex army and "now policing in the big smoke" agreed, tweeting: "We can barely cope with day to day issues."

@steve4132 tweeted: "I'm expecting a level of disorder next year that sees the military on the streets. So many people are going to be poorer the unrest will make the poll tax riots look like a tea party."

Regulator Ofgem warned the Government on Friday that it must act urgently to “match the scale of the crisis we have before us” as Britain faced the bleak news that the average household’s yearly bill will rise from £1,971 to £3,549. Headteachers and NHS bosses have warned that schools and hospitals, whose bills are not covered by the price cap, may have to cut staff to make savings.

New polling data suggests nearly one in four adults plan never to turn their heating on this winter, as average bills are set to rocket while the temperature drops. This figure is even higher for parents with children under 18, according to a Savanta ComRes survey carried out before the new price cap was announced.

And unions are seeking to launch co-ordinated strikes this autumn to step up pay demands in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. Next month’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) looks set to see the tabling of a series of motions calling for unions to work more closely together in a drive to try to win inflation-related pay rises.

The TUC’s head of public services, Kevin Rowan, told Sky News they would “support and encourage” unions in the move, so strikes could be “as effective” as possible. The move would stop short of a “general strike” but has the backing of the two biggest unions, Unison and Unite, The Observer reported.