PM cannot leave job half done in wake of riots, says social cohesion report

Street violence this summer was the first major challenge for the Labour leader’s new Government.

Damage at a Holiday Inn Express hotel in Staffordshire, after it was attacked in summer disorder (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)

The Prime Minister should not leave a job “half done” in his response to the summer riots, a think tank has said as it criticised the “vacuum” in policy around community cohesion.

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to set out his plan to stop a repeat of the violent disorder involving what he described at the time as “far-right thuggery” on the streets in some parts of the UK.

Recommendations include bringing convicted rioters together with mosques and community organisations; encouraging more integration in local areas to avoid asylum and refugee accommodation becoming a focus for violence; and providing “good work” in some of the UK’s most deprived communities where traditional industries have shut down.

A number of towns and cities, mainly in England, saw violence erupt following the killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29.

The riots were the first major challenge for the Labour leader’s new Government, and saw him promise those involved they would “face the full force of the law”.

In the weeks that followed, dozens of people went through the courts, with more than 200 having been sentenced by September 5 – many of them being put behind bars for their offences.

But the British Future think tank said the “underlying factors” of the riots must be addressed and called for a “long-term vision to address inequalities in wealth, power and voice”.

The report, which calls for the publication and funding of a national social cohesion strategy, has the backing of a former adviser to the government on the issue, a prominent imam and an ex-Labour communities secretary.

Keir Starmer’s initial response to the riots was strong, but he shouldn’t leave the job half done – now he needs to make clear what we will do together to stop them happening again

Sunder Katwala, British Future

The report stated: “The Government should avoid having parallel, segmented messages addressing concerns about the pace of immigration to a majority/conservative group and the fear of racist violence to ethnic and faith minorities and the liberal left.

“This requires a clear distinction between challenges of hatred, prejudice and extremism and the legitimate calls for democratic change (social, economic, cultural) in British politics.

“The government should engage and respond to legitimate concerns, legitimately expressed – not because of the disorder and violence, but because of the message and mandate of the general election for change.”

Among its 12-point plan for better social cohesion, the report suggested schools and colleges could be required to increase contact between students from different ethnic, faith and class backgrounds; sport could be used to bring communities together; and more pressure on social media companies to tackle hate speech and mis and disinformation.

The authors also recommend restorative justice pilots which could see those who committed offences visit mosques and community organisations in a bid to help tackle “rigid stereotypes, prejudice and perceptions”.

Sunder Katwala, report co-author and director of British Future, said: “There’s been a vacuum on communities policy for too long and this summer we saw what that can lead to.

“Keir Starmer’s initial response to the riots was strong, but he shouldn’t leave the job half done – now he needs to make clear what we will do together to stop them happening again. The PM should use party conference to set out his vision for the Britain we want to be, where communities live together well – and a plan to make that a reality.”

The irony is that the cost of this work is really quite modest, where the cost of inaction is so much greater

Professor Ted Cantle

Professor Ted Cantle, who wrote a report for the government following disturbances in the summer of 2001 in several northern towns and cities, said the proposals laid out “would put us back on track and we must not miss another opportunity to bring the country together and defeat the extremists”.

He said: “It is very disappointing that, after 23 years since my report and several others in between, we still do not have either a cohesion or integration strategy.

“The irony is that the cost of this work is really quite modest, where the cost of inaction is so much greater.”

Leeds Imam Qari Asim, chairman of the Mosques and Imams national advisory board, said while the swift response through the courts after the disorder was welcome, “we can’t be complacent”, describing what happened as “a wake-up call to government and other stakeholders to be more proactive on community cohesion”.

Bishop of Bradford, Toby Howarth, said the “trauma” felt by communities in the wake of the violence, coupled with the risk of further unrest makes the development of a cohesion strategy “an urgent priority”.

Former Labour communities secretary, Professor John Denham said successive governments had “progressively abandoned support for multi-culturalism about 20 years ago, leaving the country with no clear or consistent policy to make an increasingly diverse and rapidly changing country work successfully”.

The Government has previously said it is committed to “delivering an integrated approach to social cohesion and will set out further details in due course”.