PM Says Those Whipping Up Disorder Online Will Face "Full Force Of The Law"
A police officer during disorder on Rotherham over the weekend (Alamy)
4 min read
Keir Starmer has said that he is “absolutely clear” that “criminal law applies online as well as offline”, as Number 10 warned that anybody whipping up violent disorder online will face the full force of the law.
The Prime Minister chaired a Cobra meeting on Monday morning in response to further public disorder and violence over the weekend.
Social media and prison capacity were among the issues discussed at the meeting in Whitehall this morning, as police forces across the country have responded to disorder following a stabbing in Southport last week.
Speaking to broadcasters after the meeting on Monday morning, Starmer said that “I’ve been absolutely clear that the criminal law applies online as well as offline.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed that social media “was a topic of discussion at Cobra this morning” which was attended by Cabinet ministers including the Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, as well as representatives from the police and prisons service.
The spokesman told reporters: “Anyone who stokes this violence, whether on the internet or in person can be prosecuted and face prison.”
He also said that there was “more” that firms “can and should be doing” and they “have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their users and online spaces, to ensure that crriminal activity is not being hosted on their platform.”
Number 10 also said this morning that there was “no justification” for the comments from X boss Elon Musk, who posted that “civil war is inevitable” over the weekend in repsponse to a social media user who was blaming migration for the rioting.
Monday marked a week since the incident in Southport, and Starmer today paid tribute to the police officers who have responded to the rioting that has followed.
There was disorder across the country including at hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and Tamworth, as well as unrest in Hull, Liverpool, Stoke on Trent and Belfast.
Starmer’s official spokesman said that at the Cobra meeting the Prime Minister “paid tribute to the hard work of police officers over the past week and sent best wishes to those who have been injured protecting our streets.”
In the post-Cobra clip, Starmer said that there will be a “standing army of specialist public duty officers” ready to deal with further rioting.
He said: “We will have a standing army of specialist officers, public duty officers so that we will have enough officers to deal with this where we need them.”
He added: “We will ramp up criminal justice.
“There have already been hundreds of arrests, some have appeared in court this morning.”
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith told PoliticsHome this morning that people who are rioting are "not in the instincts of Britain", and also highlighted a growing disconnect between the political class and the public's concerns.
He said that "those who are on the streets at the moment committing mayhem should not be called British people because they are in fact just violent people who simply want to cause damage."
Steve Baker, former Tory MP for Wycombe, who writes a new Substack blog titled Fighting for a Free Future, told PoliticsHome he appreciated large numbers of people were animated by fear. He added the solution among communities was to "get to know one another better".
“There is never any excuse for rioting and racism. It is also true that large numbers of people have legitimate grievances which have not been adequately addressed. A distinction must be drawn," he said.
"There's apparently a large section of the population who are deeply concerned but wouldn't go out and commit acts of violence and racism.
"Now they have started identifying with the far right on social media. What a disaster that is. Labour have managed to force people who are frightened but not hateful into identifying with the far right."
Additional reporting by Tom Scotson
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