Growing calls for parliament to be recalled as riots continue to spread

Diane Abbott warns the violence ‘shows no sign of abating’ as MPs from across the political spectrum, including Priti Patel and Nigel Farage, demand the Commons re-opens

Keir Starmer is facing mounting calls to recall Parliament as riots continue to spread across the country.

Labour MP and mother of the House, Diane Abbott, said the decision had been made in the past for major national issues.

“And where you have violence nationwide, violence as serious as this, violence which shows no sign of abating. I call that a serious national issue,” she said.

A mob attacked a Holiday Inn Express housing asylum seekers in Rotherham on Sunday (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Wire)

MPs from across the political spectrum have demanded Parliament is reopened as the government struggles to contain the disorder.

Police were injured during "sustained violence" in Plymouth on Monday night, while similar trouble on the streets of Darlington saw officers pelted with bricks.

There was also unrest on the streets of Belfast. The Northern Ireland Assembly is being recalled and will sit later this week.

Thousands of specialist police officers have been placed in a new ‘standing Army’ ready to deal with the rioting. Keir Starmer has announced.

Courts could also begin sitting through the night to process the accused, a minister has suggested.

Former home secretary Dame Priti Patel is among the MPs who have called for Parliament’s recall, as she warned of “extraordinary criminality”.

As well as Diane Abbott, Labour MPs like Dawn Butler has also said the Commons should sit, a view echoed by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

Ms Abbott hit out, tweeting: “The racist Islamophobic violence continues nationwide with no signs of abating. And still the government sees no reason to recall Parliament”.

Unrest is spreading across Britain (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The violence has hit towns and cities around the UK since misinformation was used to inflame tensions following the murder of three girls in Southport.

False claims the alleged attacker was on a watchlist and Muslim were used to stir up far-right mobs.

The Commons is currently not sitting because of the month-long summer recess. MPs are not scheduled to return until September 2. However, the government can ask the Speaker to recall the House to deal with events of major national importance.

Parliament was last recalled in the summer of 2021, during the chaotic UK evacuation from Afghanistan. When he was prime minister David Cameron also ordered MPs to return in 2011 in response to the London riots, which also spread across the country.

On Monday, the home secretary Yvette Cooper said there were no plans to ask for the recall of MPs.

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.”

Shadow home secretary and Tory leadership candidate James Cleverly also rejected calls to recall Parliament, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I don’t think there is anything that parliament needs to sign off. If the flow of information is fast enough that will give the reassurance that Parliament wants.”