Keir Starmer vows ‘swift’ sanctions after Cobra meeting over ‘far-right thuggery’

PM says the government will ‘ramp up criminal justice’ as part of a ‘number of actions’ to come out of emergency discussions sparked by far-right riots that have broken out across England.

Protesters wave Union Jack flags as far-right activists hold a demonstration on Sunday in Weymouth, Dorset. Picture: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday vowed “swift criminal sanctions” following the first meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to discuss the far-right riots that have broken out across England.

As part of a “number of actions” to come out of the meeting, the government will “ramp up criminal justice” to ensure that “criminal sanctions are swift”, Starmer told the media.

He has vowed that rioters would regret engaging in “far-right thuggery” while Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, wrote in The Times that those who whip up hatred on social media will face the same reckoning as rioters.

Sir Keir Starmer vowed that rioters would regret engaging in ‘far-right thuggery’. Picture: Henry Nicholls/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Hundreds of people tried to set a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham ablaze on Sunday, while a children’s library in Liverpool and a Citizens Advice centre in Sunderland were burnt over the weekend. Mosques have also been attacked and shops looted.

Starmer convened ministers and police chiefs to discuss the unrest that broke out last Tuesday in Southport, northwest England, following a stabbing spree in which three children were killed.

Australia is among several countries that have since issued safety warnings to their nationals in the UK owing to the anti-immigration protests and riots. The Australian government told its citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution”, adding: “Avoid areas where protests are occurring due to the potential for disruption and violence”, in an update to its UK travel advice on Monday. Other countries that have issued warning include Nigeria, Malaysia and Indonesia,.

Meanwhile, Starmer told the media after Monday’s meeting that a “standing army” of specially trained police was ready to be deployed to support local forces where any further riots break out.

“My focus is on making sure that we stop this disorder,” he added. The National Police Chiefs’ Council said 378 people had so far been arrested, and that others would be “brought to justice”.

“I want to reassure the public that a united and robust policing response is in place across the country and we are doing all we can to tackle this disorder,” Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, NPCC chair, added.

Scenes outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham. Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Online warning

Clashes erupted in Southport a day after three young girls were killed and five more children critically injured during a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

False rumours initially spread on social media saying the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker. The suspect was later identified as a 17-year-old born in Wales. UK media reported he has Rwandan parents.

However, that has not stopped mosques from being targeted.

Arrests have been made nationwide as anti-immigration demonstrators and rioters face-off against police and counter-protesters, including groups of Muslims.

The prime minister on Sunday warned rioters they would “regret” participating in England’s worst disorder in 13 years. Interior minister Yvette Cooper told the BBC on Monday that “there will be a reckoning”.

Cooper also said that social media put a “rocket booster” under the violence, and Starmer stressed that “criminal law applies online as well as offline”.

Police have blamed the violence on people associated with the now-defunct English Defence League, an anti-Islam organisation founded 15 years ago whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism.

In some of the worst scenes on Sunday, masked rioters in Rotherham, northern England, smashed windows at a hotel that has been used to house asylum seekers.

At least 12 officers were injured, including one who was knocked unconscious, as they battled around 500 protesters with “far-right and anti-immigration views”, South Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield told media.

Nationwide violence

There were also disturbances in Bolton, northwest England, and Middlesbrough, northeast England, where mobs smashed windows of houses and cars, leading to 43 arrests.

Protesters there seized and broke a camera from an AFP crew. The journalists were not injured.

Staffordshire police said another hotel used for asylum seekers was targeted near Birmingham.

The violence is a major challenge for Starmer who led his Labour Party to a landslide win over the Conservatives.

MPs from all sides have urged Starmer to recall parliament from its summer holiday to discuss the worst violence England has seen since 2011, when riots followed the police killing of a mixed-race man in London.

Authorities have said the initial violence was partly caused by false rumours about suspect Axel Rudakubana, who is accused of killing a six, seven, and nine-year-old, and injuring another 10 people.

With the attacks on mosques, the government is offering new emergency security to Islamic places of worship.

The rallies have been advertised on far-right social media channels under the banner “Enough is enough”.

Participants have waved English and British flags while chanting slogans like “Stop the boats” – a reference to irregular migrants crossing the Channel to Britain from France.

Anti-fascist demonstrators have held counter-rallies in many cities. At last month’s election, the Reform UK party led by Brexit cheerleader Nigel Farage captured 14 per cent of the vote – one of the largest shares for a hard-right British party.