Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick has criticised Nigel Farage for comments about the Southport stabbings, suggesting they were unhelpful to the ongoing police investigation.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Jenrick said of the Reform UK leader's remarks: "I don't follow all the comments that Nigel Farage says but I don't think any of us should be doing anything to make the job of the police more difficult at this time."
When asked if Farage's comments had complicated police efforts, Jenrick responded: "I don't think they made the situation better, did they?"
He added: "So I think we should all be choosing our words carefully, backing the police to the hilt and doing everything we can to ensure our streets are safe and this violence, which I'm worried is escalating, comes to an end as swiftly as possible."
Far-right unrest has spread to London, Hartlepool and Manchester, after three girls were murdered, and two adults and eight children seriously injured at a Taylor Swiftthemed dance club
Social media post s wrongly alleged the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker, with a mosque targeted in Southport earlier in the week.
A 17-year-old born in Cardiff, Axel Rudakubana, has now been charged with murder and attempted murder.
Mr Farage faced criticism for stoking unrest by challenging Prime Minister Keir Starmer's claim that the far right was to blame for the disorder. Farage said the violence was "a reaction to fear, to discomfort, to unease that is out there shared by tens of millions of people".
Mr Jenrick said he did not regret the rhetoric used by him and his party over immigration when questioned about the riots on Saturday.
Asked whether he regretted using the slogan “stop the boats” and similar language, the former Home Office minster said: “No absolutely not. I think you’re looking at this in completely the wrong way.”
He added: “There are concerns amongst millions of people in our country – legitimate concerns – about mass migration, about illegal migration.
“You do not channel those concerns through violence obviously.
“But neither should we as politicians or indeed you as the media brush those concerns under the carpet, because that only makes the problem worse.”
It was put to him that the Tory government he served in oversaw a record-breaking high in net migration, to which he replied: “I was the minister who argued consistently to reduce the number of people coming here illegally.”
