UK riots latest: Emergency COBRA meeting today; Farage 'appalled' by violence - says army should be considered (2024)

The government is not recalling parliament "right now", Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said.

Asked whether MPs will be recalled, she told LBC radio: "That's not what we're doing right now. What we're doing right now is keeping in close contact with MPs."

Nigel Farage and Dame Priti Patel are among those to have said MPs should return.

"We now need to, in my view, as politicians, get some kind of grip of this," Dame Priti told Times Radio.

"Back in 2011 those discussions took place and actually we put our arm around the communities that were affected at the time."

She added she would not feel safe in some of the areas that have seen violent unrest, adding that the racism on display was no different from that of the 1970s and 1980s.

The army should be called in to help an understaffed police force tackle the riots, says Pastor Lorraine Jones Burrell.

She tells Sky News that while hard work is being done to recruit more officers, this won't happen overnight.

The government also needs to bring community leaders around the table or the unrest will get worse, says Ms Burrell, co-founder of the Make It Stop campaign, which aims to tackle violent crime.

"I know the police are under-resourced, I personally would say get the help of the army.

"These thuggeries, they need to be contained, they need to be taken off the streets. The police need help."

This morning, defence secretary John Healey told Sky News the army would not be deployed.

Ms Burrell went on: "The community at large are extremely frightened and outraged that such riots can continue."

But the problem will not be solved simply by imprisoning rioters - "restorative justice is needed", she said.

Intervention and support is also needed at a community level to tackle the ripple effects of knife crime, added Ms Burrell.

"Three small girls have been killed by knife crime. We have been echoing it is a state of emergency and it is going to get worse. The mental illness, it's being played out in our communities."

Today's COBRA meeting should address how the government can hold social media giants to account for allowing disinformation to spread, an MP has said.

Liberal Democrat Layla Moran told Sky News "far-right extremist thugs" were organising online and more resources were needed to stop their "posts in their tracks".

She said she struggled to get posts taken down about an "entirely fabricated" event in Oxford - a city in her constituency.

"These riots are in part being fuelled off the back of complete lies which are then being spread on those social media platforms," said Ms Moran.

"One of the things I really hope to hear come out of this COBRA meeting is how the government is intending to work with social media giants; to hold them to account for the allowing of mis- and disinformation being spread on their platforms."

Downing Street is due to hold a COBRA meeting today, where ministers and police representatives will discuss the response to the riots.

Ms Moran advised everyone to "take a breath" before posting or reposting something online.

For the last six days, rioting and unrest has been seen on streets in towns across the UK.

The riots began in Southport last Tuesday - a day after three girls were killed in a stabbing attack in the Merseyside town.

Violent protesters, many from outside the town, hurled bricks at police and at a local mosque, set fires and threw bottles, with more than 50 officers injured.

Many of the rioters were supporters of the far right, police said at the time, and the escalating violence has since been described as "far-right thuggery" by the prime minister.

Since that day, protests have been held in London, Rotherham, Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Bolton and Northern Ireland among other places.

Why did they start?

Last Monday, nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar, six-year-old Bebe King and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe were killed in an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.

Eight other children and two adults were also injured.

A 17-year-old boy originally from Cardiff was arrested but due to him being under 18, Merseyside Police were initially unable to name him by law.

False claims began to circulate online - including incorrect suggestions he was an asylum seeker. Some suggested the suspect had arrived in the UK by boat last year - again, this is wrong.

He was also incorrectly labelled a "Muslim immigrant" and falsely named as "Ali al Shakati".

Amid all this false speculation, a court lifted the requirement for anonymity and the suspect was named as Axel Rudakubana - who was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents.

He appeared in court charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and one of possession of a bladed article.

Far-right names fuelled the rumours

The rumours were fuelled by several far-right names such as Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate.

MP Nigel Farage questioned if the police, who had said the attack was not "terror-related", were being truthful.

"The police say it is a non-terror incident, just as they said the stabbing of an army lieutenant colonel in uniform on the streets of Kent the other day was a non-terror incident," said the Reform leader. "I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us. I don't know the answer to that but I think it is a fair and legitimate question."

In the subsequent days, anti-immigration rioters caused destruction in towns and cities across the country - with mosques, libraries and a Citizens Advice centre targeted.

Over the weekend, hotels housing asylum seekers were attacked.

Sir Keir Starmer vowed those involved in the unrest would "feel the full force of the law", saying those engaging in "far right thuggery" would regret their actions.

In many places, counter protests have been staged - often far outnumbering the far right presence and sometimes resulting in clashes.

Members of the Southport community will come together later to remember the victims of last week's stabbing attack.

People have been invited to blow bubbles for nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar, six-year-old Bebe King and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, who were killed.

The event is aimed at helping give children closure by "sending bubbles up to heaven".

It is being held at The Atkinson in Southport - the same place hundreds of people gathered to hold a vigil for the victims last week.

Eight other children and two adults were also injured in the attack.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has now joined the calls for parliament to be recalled.

Posting on social media, he says he is "totally appalled by the levels of violence seen in the last couple of days".

He goes on to blame "soft" policing of Black Lives Matter protests for creating the appearance of "two-tier policing".

Mr Farage then claims a "population explosion without integration was always going to end badly".

"We must have a more honest debate about these vital issues and give people the confidence that there are political solutions that are relevant to them," he says.

"A recall of parliament would be an appropriate start to this."

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tells Sky News there "has to be a reckoning" for those taking part in riots.

Ms Cooper says: "There will be people who were thinking they were going on their summer holidays this week, and instead they will face a knock on the door from the police.

"They will face arrest and a prison cell, a police cell while they wait for trial, in order to make sure that they do pay the price for what they have done."

The home secretary says she also expects action to be taken against those who were "posting criminal material online".

And she criticises social media companies - saying the tech giants need to "take some responsibility" for what is posted on their platforms.

Asked if there are enough police officers to deal with the unrest, Ms Cooper says forces have reserves that were not deployed this weekend.

But she says there is a "longer-term issue about policing in the UK".

Ms Cooper is asked if foreign states have been involved in the unrest.

Her Conservative predecessor, James Cleverly, said this had all the "hallmarks" of foreign interference.

Ms Cooper says"there can be this sort of amplification of social media activity online".

But she says the government's "focus" at the moment is "on local groups and organisations".

She says some of these are "far-right extremists" and also "local looters who came to join in and committed crimes".

Continuing his interview with Sky News, and asked about what caused the riots, James Cleverly says he was aware of "pernicious" online culture when he was home secretary.

He says this was "perpetrated by the far right, amplified, both within the UK, and beyond our borders".

What has happened in the past seven days "has got all the hallmarks of something which has been stoked by that".

In an interview with Sky News in the last few moments, shadow home secretary James Cleverly echoed language used by Sir Keir Starmer - agreeing with the prime minister that this is "far-right extremism", and saying the rioters are "obviously motivated by racism".

That, though, is where the bipartisanship seems to end.

The former home secretary says: "It is absolutely right that the government is saying that they will take firm action - they should and could have been quicker.

"I think it's worrying that it's only today that COBRA is going to meet.

"It was only yesterday afternoon that we found out the prime minister was going to cancel his holiday.

"So we want to support the government in taking firm action against this violence and disorder - but they have to move much more quickly."

Downing Street is due to hold a COBRA meeting today after "thugs" tried to storm hotels housing asylum seekers on the sixth day of escalating disorder.

COBRA, named after Cabinet Office Briefing Room A on Whitehall, is a committee that sees ministers, civil servants, the police, intelligence officers, and other appropriate people meet to discuss an emergency response plan to a particular issue.

In today's meeting, ministers and police representatives will discuss the response to the riots over the coming days.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer - for whom this is a first COBRA - vowed rioters would "regret" engaging in "far-right thuggery" and promised those involved in unrest would "face the full force of the law" as he addressed the nation yesterday.

The Home Office has already announced that mosques would be offered greater protection under a new "rapid response process" designed to quickly tackle the threat of further attacks on places of worship.

Ministers have also suggested that courts could sit 24 hours to fast-track prosecutions.