Summary of the day …
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly demanded Labour reverse what he said was “poor early decision making” and claimed that “their rhetoric encouraged people smugglers” after more than 700 people were recorded crossing the channel in small boats on Sunday. The candidate for the Conservative leadership, who as home secretary failed to deport a single person under Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda scheme, said Labour ditching it had sent the “wrong signal”
Downing Street has said the government remains on “high alert” after the far-right led violent disorder seen across parts of England and Northern Ireland in recent weeks. Asked if they were confident the unrest was over, a spokesperson for the prime minister said “We welcome that there has been a de-escalation this weekend. But we’re certainly not complacent and remain on high alert
Home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised senior politicians who she said had exhibited “shameful behaviour” and “sought to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the police”. The implicit criticism of the leadership of Reform UK did not go unnoticed by deputy leader Richard Tice, who demanded to know when there would be arrests related to a violent incident at Manchester airport
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) issued an operational update listing 77 people in England and Wales who had been charged between Friday evening and Monday morning
A rapper who posted a video online accusing Tommy Robinson of calling on people to attack mosques has appeared in court, pleading not guilty to a charge of conveying information which was known to be false. A man who grabbed a police officer’s baton and ran off with it during disorder in Plymouth has been jailed for three years. A 12-year-old boy has admitted throwing a missile at a police van and taking part in two separate incidents of disorder in Manchester
Unions in Scotland have called off proposed industrial action by cleansing workers to allow members to vote on an improved paydeal
Disgraced former prime minister Boris Johnson has reportedly been courted for an executive role with the Daily Telegraph by a potential bidder for the newspaper group
Councils and public bodies in England are to be handed powers to compulsorily buy cheap green belt land as part of the new Labour government’s drive to build 1.5m homes by 2030
Political correspondent Aletha Adu has a news wrap of the day’s events here …
Thank you for reading, I will be back with you tomorrow.
A rapper who posted a video online accusing Tommy Robinson of calling on people to attack mosques has appeared in court, PA Media reports.
Omar Abdirizak, 30, is charged with conveying information which was known to be false, intending at the time of sending to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to a likely audience – an offence under Section 179 of the new Online Safety Act 2023 which was enacted by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative administration.
Abdirizak, known as Twista Cheese, pleaded not guilty. At the same hearing, Abdirizak pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis and racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.
The district Jjudge bailed Abdirizak to appear at the magistrates’ court again on Friday, ordering him not to mention Robinson on social media without prior agreement of the court.
Disgraced former prime minister Boris Johnson has reportedly been courted for an executive role with the Daily Telegraph by a potential bidder for the newspaper group.
Johnson has reportedly been sounded out by Nadhim Zahawi, the ex-Conservative chancellor, who has approached a number of wealthy backers about assembling a potential bid for the Telegraph newspapers and Spectator magazine.
Zahawi has held preliminary, informal talks and raised the idea of Johnson becoming the Telegraph’s global editor-in-chief with investors if a bid is successful – although there is no firm agreement in place and there are no formal talks, according to Sky News.
Johnson currently writes a column for the Daily Mail although he has longstanding links with the Telegraph where he began his career as the Telegraph’s star Brussels correspondent – writing exaggerated stories about EU regulations – before returning to the UK to be a political columnist and enter politics.
In June 2023 Johnson stood down immediately as a Conservative MP after an investigation into the Partygate scandal found he misled parliament and recommended a lengthy suspension from the House of Commons.
Read more here: Boris Johnson ‘courted for Telegraph role’ as Nadhim Zahawi plots bid
A man who grabbed a police officer’s baton and ran off with it during disorder in Plymouth has been jailed for three years, PA Media reports.
Guy Sullivan, 43, admitted a charge of violent disorder relating to the incident on 5 August.
Judge Robert Linford told Sullivan: “You ran up behind PC Hannaford, who was doing what he could to try to keep the mob, because that’s what they were, at bay. You took his baton and made off with it.
“As a direct consequence of that, PC Hannaford, who has been a police officer for a very long period of time, was taken to the ground and beaten. You played your part in that mob violence. The courts are going to come down hard on people who are part of that widespread disorder.”
The defendant has 37 previous convictions for 108 offences.
Updated
Cleverly claims Labour's 'rhetoric encouraged people smugglers' after 700 people make Channel crossing on Sunday
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has issued a video statement about the number of people who travelled to the UK via small boat Channel crossings yesterday, in which he demanded Labour reverse what he said was “poor early decision making” and claimed that “their rhetoric encouraged people smugglers”.
In the video clip, Cleverly, who is running to be leader of the opposition Conservative party, said:
Over 700 people arrived illegally in small boats to the UK yesterday. Two people tragically lost their lives.
Labour said they would smash the gangs. Instead, what they did was remove the Rwanda partnership, which was a deterrent to the people smugglers, claim to create a border command force which still does not exist and does not have any leadership, [and] undermine the work of immigration enforcement, the National Crime Agency and Border Force.
Their rhetoric encouraged people smugglers, and the tragic consequences are now clear for all of us to see. They need to reverse this poor early decision making and get a grip on our border controls.
Over 700 people on 11 boats.
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) August 12, 2024
Two tragic deaths in the Channel.
Yesterday was a clear signal that Labour must reverse their bad decisions and get a grip of the situation or we will continue to see the dire consequences. pic.twitter.com/8cbR3z8bs8
The DCMS has issued a video interview with Alex McCormick, who has lead fundraising efforts to make good the damage at Spellow Community Hub Library, which was burnt out during riots.
In it, she says “I think seeing a library be damaged through the riots just really broke my heart. I thought maybe we would fundraise a couple of hundred quid to replace some of the books that had been burned. I never expected it to get to the point that it’s at now. People rallied, dropping off books, offering to clean … You can’t stop the good from overpowering the bad, I don’t think.”
In fund, which aimed to raise £500, has now raised nearly £250,000. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has shared the video on social media, adding her comment, that “there is power in community”.
There is power in community.
— Lisa Nandy MP (@lisanandy) August 12, 2024
After Spellow Library was set alight in the riots, hear what happened next ⬇️ https://t.co/ezBwh13Uhl
12-year-old boy pleads guilty to violent disorder during riots in Manchester
A 12-year-old boy has admitted throwing a missile at a police van and taking part in two separate incidents of disorder in Manchester.
PA Media reports the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to two charges of violent disorder at Manchester magistrates court, sitting as a youth court, on Monday afternoon.
District judge Joanne Hirst said the case was “very serious”, adding “He’s more involved in the violence and disorder than any other defendant I’ve seen coming through these courts, adult or child.”
The boy was remanded to local authority accommodation and will be sentenced on 2 September.
The prosecution said he was seen handing a rock to another youth during the disorder, was part of a group that attacked a bus, threw a missile at a police van and was filmed by police kicking the front window of a vape shop.
A little more here on the published Home Office figures for people crossing the Channel in small boats. PA Media notes that the latest crossings – 703 were recorded on Sunday – take the provisional total for the year so far to 18,342. This is 13% higher than this time last year (16,170) but 3% lower than the total at this stage in 2022 (18,978).
Conservative leadership candidate and shadow home secretary James Cleverly earlier said the latest numbers showed Keir Starmer’s Labour government had sent “the wrong signal” in cancelling the previous government’s failed attempts to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
A Downing Street spokesperson said “We’ve been very clear in the weeks leading up to the summer that we know the summer is a challenging time, and we expect to see increases before we see improvements.”
On social media Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, days after far-right anti-immigrant violence saw rioters trying to torch places where asylum seekers were staying with people inside, claimed the latest figures showed “our useless PM is literally giving our country away to the third world.”
GMB Scotland are also calling off strike action which would have affected council cleaning services across many local authorities in Scotland. Keir Greenaway, the senior organiser in public services for GMB Scotland said: “It is better than that offered to council staff in England and Wales, would mean every worker receives a rise higher than the retail prices index and, importantly, is weighted to ensure frontline workers gain most. As a gesture of goodwill, we will suspend action until our members can vote on the offer.”
Members of the Unite union in Scotland will be balloted on a new offer for cleansing workers as the union has announced it will suspend planned strike action, PA Media reports.
Staff were due to walk out for more than a week from Wednesday, but a new offer of a 4.27% overall rise from local authority body Cosla was made after the Scottish government offered extra funding.
Graham McNab, the union’s lead negotiator for local government, was quoted as saying:
Unite members across all of Scotland’s councils should be applauded for standing firm. They have remained resolute in an effort to secure a fairer and better pay offer.
We believe that the new pay offer is credible. For the first time in years, it will mean all council workers receiving an above inflation increase.
Unite will now suspend the eight days of strike action so a ballot can take place on the new offer
Councils and public bodies in England are to be handed powers to compulsorily buy cheap green belt land as part of the new Labour government’s drive to build 1.5m homes by 2030.
Green belt landowners who are unwilling to sell would face compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) that would force them to hand over their land if the site could host a “quality housing scheme” in the public interest.
Under the proposed rules, which are being consulted on, these landowners could be forced to sell at a benchmark value that the government has said will provide “fair but not excessive return” for the landowner, as well as “maximising community benefits”.
The proposals come two weeks after the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, set out wide-reaching planning and housing policy reforms aimed at accelerating housebuilding.
Read more here: English councils to gain new powers to buy cheap green belt land
Downing Street: government 'not complacent' about threat of further violence, and remains on 'high alert'
Downing Street has said the government remains on “high alert” after the far-right led violent disorder seen across parts of England and Northern Ireland in recent weeks.
PA Media reports that asked if they were confident the unrest was over, a spokesperson for the prime minister said “We welcome that there has been a de-escalation this weekend. But we’re certainly not complacent and remain on high alert.
“We also recognise that the job is not done until people feel safe in their communities, but thanks to the work of our police officers, prosecutors … and judiciary, we have seen a swift response from the justice system. Within a matter of days, we’ve seen criminals involved arrested, charged, sentenced and behind bars.”
Earlier the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) issued an operational update listing 77 people in England and Wales who had been charged between Friday evening and Monday morning.
The Downing Street spokesperson would not be drawn on how long a fast-tracked justice process could be expected to run for.
Number 10 said that Keir Starmer had cancelled his holiday to “ensure that we can respond to the disorder”, and continue to have meetings and receive updates.
Earlier, home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised senior politicians who she said had exhibited “shameful behaviour” and “sought to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the police”. The implicit criticism of the leadership of Reform UK did not go unnoticed by deputy leader Richard Tice, who demanded to know when there would be arrests related to a violent incident at Manchester airport.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has drawn sharp criticism for a video ahead of the violent disorder which asked whether “the truth is being withheld” about stabbing attacks in Southport and Kent, comments which were described last week as “deeply unhelpful” and “fuel [for] conspiracy theories” by Conservative leadership hopeful Mel Stride.
A teenager seen “celebrating” after throwing a rock which hit a police officer during riots in Darlington has been detained for 18 months, PA Media reports. Cole Stewart, 18, was one of about 30 people who gathered outside a mosque in the town. Teesside Crown Court heard the group was chanting racist and far-right slogans. Stewart denied using any racist language himself during the incident.
Rory Carroll is the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent
Ireland has increased fines on airlines and ferry companies that allow passengers to board or disembark without proper documentation.
The government hopes that raising the maximum fine from €3,000 to €5,000 will put more pressure on carriers to curb the arrival of people who destroy or dispose of travel documents as part of efforts to claim asylum.
It is part of a wider crackdown aimed at deterring illegal entry amid tension over housing and immigration.
“This is one of a number of steps which I am taking to deliver a fair, but firm immigration system,” said the justice minister, Helen McEntee. “Alongside increasing the level of penalties, I will provide additional supports to carriers to help them meet their obligations. This continued cooperation is key to upholding the integrity of our immigration system.” The measure brings Ireland into line with EU counterparts, McEntee said.
Some 3,285 people landed at Dublin airport in 2023 without proper documents and were not prosecuted, a disclosure that has fuelled anti-immigrant protests, including a riot in Dublin last November. The government says the number of such arrivals are falling.
Northern Ireland’s Belfast has seen days of unrest fuelled by anti-immigration sentiment which has included an attack on a mosque and racially motivated attacks on people in the street. [See 9.23 BST]
The Crown Prosecution Service has issued an operational update in which it listed 77 individuals who have been charged after the widespread far-right led disorder across England and Northern Ireland in the past two weeks. The charges were issued between Friday evening and Monday morning.
On those charged, six have pleaded guilty. Seven of the charges feature an element of “racial or religious aggravated harassment” or a charge of “stirring up racial hatred”. Twelve of those charged were under 18, including two 12-year-olds and one 13-year-old.
PA Media is carrying some more details after charging decisions after the violent unrest of the past couple of weeks in England and Northern Ireland.
A man has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker, and also accused of common assault and affray in Brighton during an anti-racism protest in the city on 7 August.
The Crown Prosecution Service has also authorised South Wales police to charge two men over Facebook posts that allegedly intended to stir up racial or religious hatred. The CPS said the charges relate to Facebook posts on or around 31 July. The pair will appear in court in Cardiff later today.
I’ll just leave this here without comment …
PA Media reports the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it has authorised Northumbria police to charge a man with distributing a recording intending to stir up racial hatred. The CPS said the charge relates to an alleged video published on TikTok on or before 8 August.
At Manchester magistrates court a man has admitted throwing a missile at police. The prosecution said Niall Charnock, 31, was “actively involved” in the disturbances and social media footage had shown him breaking through a police barricade. He was remanded into custody, with district judge Joanne Hirst telling him he had been part of “shameful disorder” in Bolton town centre.
The lull in active politics during August recess doesn’t seem to have stopped some people wanting to constantly pick online fights, as Nigel Farage has just had a pop at James Cleverly. Cleverly had been quoted as suggesting Farage needed to choose between being a “serious politician” or being an online “content creator”. Farage has retorted “You are neither”, and tagged Cleverly in, suggesting that the Reform UK leader is certainly not going to abandon his relentless eye for content creation.
You are neither @JamesCleverly. pic.twitter.com/ZTDiE8qVUW
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) August 12, 2024
The ConservativeHome website has carried out a survey of what readers feel about various members of the shadow cabinet, which makes good reading for Kemi Badenoch, who leads with 45.1% net approval.
The overlap between ConservativeHome readers and Conservative members likely to vote in the leadership election means she will almost certainly want to set more store by this figure than by her net disapproval rating with the public, which we reported earlier. [See 10.03 BST]
Jeremy Hunt (27.3) and James Cleverly (26.3) make up the top three. Hunt is not running to be leader.
Andrew Mitchell, Rishi Sunak, Edward Argar, Lord Davies of Gower and Victoria Atkins are the five shadow cabinet members to pick up net disapproval ratings from ConservativeHome readers.
Cleverly: Labour sent 'wrong signal' in ditching Rwanda plan
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has accused Labour of sending “the wrong signal” by ditching the Rishi Sunak’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The former minister and Conservative leadership hopeful said the latest numbers showed that what he called the Government’s “phantom border command” isn’t working.
Cleverly said:
Since Labour have ditched our deterrent, more and more boats are crossing the channel with more and more people in them. They’ve sent the wrong signal, throwing the doors open instead of doing what is necessary to stop the dangerous crossings. The Government’s phantom border command clearly isn’t working. They need to get a grip and fast, otherwise the numbers will continue to climb.
PA Media notes that the two highest days for Channel crossings this year were both under the previous government. The Home Office recorded 703 people arriving in the UK on Sunday in 11 boats that crossed the Channel. Two people died attempting the crossing at the weekend, and there have been 17 deaths so far this year.
A Home Office spokesperson said “We all want to see an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which are undermining border security and putting lives at risk. The new government is taking steps to boost our border security, setting up a new border security command which will bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies, equipped with new counter-terror-style powers and hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas, to smash the criminal smuggling gangs making millions in profit.”
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has said the failed Rwanda scheme was “the biggest waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen”, and described is as a “costly con”. She said the Conservative government had spent £700m of taxpayers’ money on the scheme, under which not a single deportation flight took off.
Phillip Inman and Graeme Wearden report:
The UK should not be “seduced” into thinking the battle to calm inflation is over despite price rises easing to the Bank of England’s target, according to an interest rate setter at the central bank.
Catherine Mann, a member of the Bank’s monetary policy committee, said the underlying price pressures in the economy remain strong and showed that the central bank needed to take a tough stance when it sets interest rates.
Mann, one of four policymakers who opposed this month’s cut in UK interest rates from 5.25% to 5%, said services inflation remains too high for comfort, and UK wages are rising faster than the Bank’s forecasts have predicted.
Headline inflation held steady at the Bank’s target of 2% in May and June but official figures released on Wednesday are expected to show inflation rose to 2.3% in July.
She said: “Inflation has come down but if we look underneath the headline … we shouldn’t be seduced by headline inflation because of the role of energy and external aspects working through both directly energy as well as on the goods side.”
Read more from Phillip Inman and Graeme Wearden here: Battle against UK inflation is far from over, says Bank of England policymaker
Talking of the race to be the next Conservative leader, James Cleverly has written for the Daily Mail in Scotland to say that he is confident that the Conservatives can bounce back and do well in the next Holyrood elections in 2026.
PA Media reports that in the article, he acknowledged the party was given a “kicking” in last month’s general election, but said there was “no reason” they could not be back in government in five years if the right leader is elected.
“In Scotland, I want to see us return a majority of MSPs in 2026 – to stop the divisive politics of the SNP and stand up for the interests of Scotland,” he wrote.
“The SNP have failed Scotland over and over again. I have every confidence that we can give them and Labour a trouncing in 2026, if we get this decision right now.”
Savanta have done some polling on the popularity of the six people vying to be the next leader of the opposition Conservative party, which pans out like this:
Tom Tugendhat (Net favourability -5)
Robert Jenrick (-9) and Mel Stride (-9)
James Cleverly (-10)
Kemi Badenoch (-13)
Priti Patel (-30)
The devil is in the details, however, with Tugendhat, Jenrick and Stride all scoring very highly for “don’t know” responses. Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta says “Unfortunately for all six Conservative candidates so far, the rule of thumb appears to be that the more the public see of them, the less they like them.”
Tugendhat (+23) and Cleverly (+22) are the most popular candidates with 2024 Conservative voters, while Badenoch has the strongest favourability among 2024 Reform UK voters (+4).
Badenoch is very unpopular with 2024 Liberal Democrat voters (-23) though, leading Hopkins to observe that MPs and members of the party appear to have a distinct choice ahead, saying “Do they want to elect someone as leader who can pick up Liberal Democrat or Reform voters, or simply hold on to the base? Because currently, it looks like there isn’t one person who can do all three, which they will need to if they want to get back into government.”
Starmer, Macron and Scholz issue joint statement on war in Middle East
Prime minister Keir Starmer, alongside France’s president Emmanuel Macron and the Germany chancellor Olaf Scholz have issued a joint statement on war in the Middle East. The statement, which does not mention Israel by name, calls on Iran to de-escalate tensions.
In it the statement says “We have been working with all parties to prevent escalation and will spare no effort to reduce tensions and find a path to stability. The fighting must end now, and all hostages still detained by Hamas must be released. The people of Gaza need urgent and unfettered delivery and distribution of aid.”
It adds “we call on Iran and its allies to refrain from attacks that would further escalate regional tensions and jeopardise the opportunity to agree a ceasefire and the release of hostages. They will bear responsibility for actions that jeopardise this opportunity for peace and stability.”
A joint statement from the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom on the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/zqXplcegeB
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) August 12, 2024
Andy Beckett writes for the Guardian this morning, asking if last week’s protests were really anti-racist or just against far-right thugs?
Even the rightwing press, its instinctive prejudices temporarily outweighed by a fear of falling out of step with its readers, has felt compelled to cover the counterprotests positively at times. “United Britain stands firm against thugs,” said the Daily Express last Thursday, above a front-page picture of massed counterprotesters in a left-leaning part of London, as if the paper had momentarily been taken over by an anti-racist collective.
And yet, such vital, photogenic political victories need to be considered alongside much less uplifting, equally lingering experiences – of people of colour closing their businesses early, or too scared to go out, as if subject to some racist lockdown – if the damage the far right has done over the past fortnight is to be understood and then reversed.
Keir Starmer, the ex-prosecutor, is making sure that plenty of violent racists go to prison, but their obsessions will not be so easily confined. When and if the next racist surge comes, how the state, society and the media respond will again reveal with startling clarity what kind of country we are becoming: one actively committed to multiculturalism, grudgingly accepting of it, or still fundamentally hostile.
Read more here: Andy Beckett – Were UK protests against far right anti-thugs or anti-racist? The answer will tell us much about our nation
Man arrested after attack on mosque in Newtownards, Northern Ireland
Three men will appear in court in Northern Ireland on Monday, facing charges connected with recent rioting in Belfast, and a man has been arrested after an attack on a mosque in Newtownards.
The man, 42, was arrested on suspicion of several offences including attempted arson, possessing a petrol bomb and attempted intimidation. A petrol bomb was thrown at the mosque in Co Down in the early hours of Saturday with graffiti sprayed on the front door and walls of the building. The attack has been condemned by Northern Ireland’s first minister and deputy first minister
PA Media reports a 26-year-old man has been charged with a number of offences, including riot, arson, conspiracy to commit arson, three counts of possession of an offensive weapon with intent, and two of criminal damage.
A 58-year-old man has been charged with possessing written material intended or likely to stir up hatred or arouse fear, and a 30-year-old man has been charged with intentionally encouraging or assisting riot, publishing written material intended to stir up hatred, sending menacing messages through a public electronic communications network, and possession of fireworks without a licence.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Elon Musk have been acting like best buddies on social media again, with the unelected billionaire agreeing with a Farage claim that “Keir Starmer poses the biggest threat to free speech we’ve seen in our history”.
It should be noted that the current administration is yet to pass any legislation, and police and the courts are all currently acting on laws about protest and publishing statements online enacted by the previous government.
My colleague Archie Bland has more this morning on Musk’s decision over the last few days to try to insert himself into British politics:
Musk has shown no sign of deferring to the norms of other countries where his absolutist theory of free speech might find less support than in the US. The Guardian’s global technology editor Dan Milmo points out “He made the decision to reinstate Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate,” both figures who were banned in the past.
“You’ve seen the direct effects of that in their influence over the past couple of weeks. And his own interventions since the Southport attack have certainly been the most provocative he’s ever made in the UK. Before Musk arrived, I’m pretty confident that a lot of the most incendiary content would have been taken down. But they don’t do that sort of moderation any more.”
As well as entering a war of words with Keir Starmer and personally promoting accounts that dubiously claim the danger of the rioters has been overstated while Muslim troublemakers go unpunished, he has reportedly ignored requests from the government’s disinformation unit to take down posts that it believes are inciting violence.
Read more here: Monday briefing – How Elon Musk is shaping a dangerous political moment
Deputy leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice, has not had much truck with home secretary Yvette Cooper’s call that it is has been “shameful behaviour” from senior politicians who, she said, “sought to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the police, just at the time they needed our full backing to restore order to the streets.”
This morning he has posted a link to her article, adding the message “So home secretary, when will Manchester airport assailants of police officers be charged? It was almost 3 weeks ago. Rioting thugs attacking police correctly being charged, what about airport thugs attacking police?”
So Home Secretary, when will Manchester airport assailants of police officers be charged? It was almost 3 weeks ago.
— Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 (@TiceRichard) August 12, 2024
Rioting thugs attacking police correctly being charged, what about airport thugs attacking police? https://t.co/3rn2PgwB5h
Cooper calls out 'shameful behaviour' of senior politicians who sought to undermine police during violent disorder
Overnight, writing in the Telegraph, home secretary Yvette Cooper has said that the country needs to restore respect for its police force. In an implicit criticism of the leadership of Reform UK, she said she would not engage in the “shameful behaviour” of those who “sought to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the police”.
In the article, Cooper also criticises those who have attempted to justify rioting under the guise that people have “legitimate concerns”. Cooper said:
These attacks on local communities and indeed on the police have been a disgraceful assault on the rule of law itself. Those who try to suggest that this violence is about protest and grievance are making excuses for criminals and thugs.
Lots of people across Britain have strong views on law and order, immigration, and the NHS. But they don’t pick up bricks and throw them at the police, loot shops or wreck cars, attack people because of the colour of their skin, or set light to buildings knowing people are inside.
She also took aim at politicians who have been seeking to use the rhetoric of “two-tier policing”, writing:
We will work with the police, rather than just blaming them from afar, to tackle problems and raise standards. And we won’t engage in the kind of shameful behaviour we have seen from some senior politicians and pundits who sought to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the police, just at the time they needed our full backing to restore order to the streets.
Her article concludes “There is lots of rebuilding to be done in our communities after the damage of the last fortnight. Respect for the police, respect for the law, and respect for each other is where we must start.”
Welcome and opening summary …
Welcome to our rolling coverage of UK politics for Monday. Home secretary Yvette Cooper has said that in the wake of far-right riots in England and Northern Ireland there is a need to rebuild respect for the police, and she has criticsed senior politicians for the language they have used, she said, to undermine the police. More on that in a moment. Here are the rest of your headlines …
Northern Ireland’s first minister and deputy first minister have condemned a racist attack on a mosque in County Down and Saturday night’s violence in Derry
Christopher Steele has claimed there is “clear” Russian involvement in the far-right riots seen in England and Northern Ireland, and security services will be looking closely at the instigators
The Conservatives have been accused of leaving a “legacy of structural racism” in the UK jobs market
Consumers in England and Wales will see the amount of compensation they receive for poor customer service from their water supplier at least double under new government measures
The number of UK drivers concerned with the state of local roads has hit record levels
The Bank of England is poised for a setback in the battle against high inflation this week amid expectations for a first increase in the headline rate this year
It is Martin Belam with you today. Do email me if you spot typos, errors or omissions – martin.belam@theguardian.com.
