Closure of community spaces fuelled ‘tinderbox' for far right to spark Southport riots, says report
A paper published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that the loss of shared community spaces – from youth clubs and leisure centres to high-street pubs and piers – is leaving communities more vulnerable to far-right influence.
It said the closure of these spaces is forcing people into isolation, prompting them to spend more time online and pushing them towards the far right.
The report warned of a 'pincer movement of abandonment and gentrification' that has gradually led to the loss of community spaces – such as the Southport pier, which closed in 2022 – and an increase in isolation in many areas.
Referring to previous research, the report said that 50 pubs permanently close in the UK each month, while an estimated 600 youth clubs shut down between 2012 and 2016. It noted that London lost almost 10 local authority-run community spaces a year between 2018 and 2023.
The violence in Southport, which spread through parts of England and Northern Ireland after the 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana attacked a dance class in the town, murdering three young girls, should serve as a 'wake-up call', according to the author of the report, Dr Sacha Hilhorst.
Dr Hilhorst said: 'The Southport riots were a wake-up call – a stark reminder of what can happen when communities lose the places that once brought people together. In the absence of shared spaces, misinformation and hate can fill the void, creating tinderbox conditions for violence.
'Rebuilding local infrastructure isn't just about nostalgia – it's a vital bulwark against division and the dangerous pull of the far right.
'But communities are not apathetic. They are crying out for places to gather, to organise, and to belong. We need a new generation of institutions to help them do just that.'
The report said that the far right had 'capitalised on Southport's disrepair to sow disorder', and noted that a 'fight for investment in local amenities has garnered little attention' in the aftermath.
It suggested the introduction of a '21st-century welfare fund' raised through a so-called Amazon tax, whereby warehouses and distribution centres are subject to higher levies or online sales taxes.
It argued that online retailers who build 'giant structures' – a demonstration of their high value – often do not contribute 'sufficiently to the communities around them'.
A tax on companies with revenues over £1m could help generate 'larger, more sustained resource for communities than current community regeneration efforts', it said.
The report added: 'If there is a thread connecting the high-octane events of late July [2024] and the slow local politics of the pier, it is the loss of physical spaces where we might come together, and the radicalisation of some of the digital spaces that have replaced them.
'There is an appetite for community action, as the campaign for the pier shows, but a lack of investment and space.
'In the absence of structures which might foster wider solidarities, many retreat into the sphere of the home, or worse, into ethno-nationalist fantasies of muscular sovereignty.'
The government has been contacted for comment.
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Zack Polanski faces Ellie Chowns at Green party leadership hustings
Update: Date: 2025-07-30T18:56:17.000Z Title: Adrian Ramsay Content: Would-be co-leader, standing with , faces 'eco-populist' Andrew Sparrow (now) with Nadeem Badshah and Joe Coughlan (earlier) Wed 30 Jul 2025 20.56 CEST First published on Wed 30 Jul 2025 09.54 CEST From 6.57pm CEST 18:57 Andrew Sparrow Hi, I'm Andrew Sparrow, picking up again from Nadeem Badshah, and blogging from Hoxton Hall in north London, where chairs are being set up into a handsome auditorium for leadership hustings for the Green party of England and Wales. (The Scottish Green party is a separate entitity.) It is due to start at 6.15pm. There have been quite a few hustings already, and four more are scheduled, but we have not covered the contest much on the Politics Live blog, and we certainly have not reported from a hustings. So tonight it is going to get full attention for two hours. The Greens are a smallish party, they normally hold leadership contests every two years, often it ends up as a co-leader job share and, because members have much more control over policy and other matters then they do in other parties, the leader or leaders have surprisingly little power. 'The primary purpose of the Green party leader is to provide visionary leadership and direction for the party,' is how the party explains it. But this contest is attracting more interest than most previous Green party leadership elections have. That is partly because the party is stronger than it has ever been before. It has four MPs at Westminster, more than 800 council seats and it is regularly picking up about 10% support in opinion polls. Where do they go next? That is the other reason why the contest deserves more attention, because the choice facing members is sharper, and spikier, than it normally is in a party with collegiate, herbivore instincts. On the one side, and Ellie Chowns are running on a 'more of the same [success]' platform. They are both MPs, Ramsay is a current co-leader and they say they can 'can inspire teams, grow trust and deliver results'. They were both meant to be here tonight, but Ramsay can't be here because of a family reason. And it is a job share; they have not always appeared together at hustings. And they are up against Zack Polanski who is running on an 'eco-populist' platform promising what is crudely seen as out-Faraging Reform UK from the left. He is a skilled social media performer, and is also widely seen as the favourite - although, because the Greens are a small party (around 65,000 members), they are hard to poll, and no one knows for sure. 8.56pm CEST 20:56 In his final statement, Polanski said that this election was about 'who can cut through'. He went on: This is not just about who leads the Green party. This is about the fact we are facing down the barrel of a Reform government. Nigel Farage could be prime minister, and I don't think it's hyperbolic to say the Green Party could play a pivotal role in stopping that happen. But we cannot stop that happen if we are just asking questions in parliament, as important as questions are. We cannot stop that happening if we look at slow, steady, incremental change. We will stop that happening by being bold - being very clear about exactly what we stand for and exactly what we stand against. 8.49pm CEST 20:49 The final question was about what the candidates would do to develop talent in the party. Polanski says future talent needs to be developed. He says all four Green MPs are either leaders, ex-leaders, or running to be leader. He says he wants to be an MP. But if he were leader, with two deputies, that would be seven Green figures with a big platform. Updated at 8.55pm CEST 8.43pm CEST 20:43 Polanski says he has given more than 80 interviews since this contest started – not just comments to journalists, but proper conversations about policy. He goes on: I don't agree that it's binary between clickbait and substance. I think we need substance with clickbait. And that takes him to Nigel Farage. So when we look at Nigel Farage, I despise Nigel Farage's politics, but it is undeniable he is one of the most effective politicians this country has ever had. I hated Brexit, but he caused Brexit without even being in parliament, just through the power of his storytelling. Now he's playing politics on easy mode so he can tell lies and misinformation. And I agree, and I hope Ellie wouldn't say for a second I was dabbling in that. We should never go into lies and misinformation. But what he does is he takes those lies and he tells a powerful story that's easy mode. We're in difficult mode. We need to take science research and truth, but that, on its own, is not enough. People aren't interested in graphs and spreadsheets. We need to take that science research and truth and tell a powerful story that cuts through, and this, for me, is the very centre of this leadership campaign. Updated at 8.50pm CEST 8.38pm CEST 20:38 The next question follows up on this. What are you going to do to make sure the Greens get as much media attention as Nigel Farage? Chowns says it is frustrating how much attention Reform UK get. She says she has spoken to the BBC about this, and they take into account not just the number of MPs (Reform UK are now on four, the same as the Greens). They take into account polling, she says. But she says she thinks the Greens have 'hugely increased' their visibility as a party. Updated at 8.51pm CEST 8.34pm CEST 20:34 Chowns says people tell her that she has not caught the national attention in the way that Nigel Farage has. She goes on: I would say I don't aspire to being a Nigel Farage. I aspire to a different type of politics. And yeah, maybe it's slightly slower burn, certainly it's less simplifying, certainly it's far less polarising, certainly I don't lie and scapegoat and all the rest of it in the way that Nigel Farage has done. And I don't think we should be aspiring to learn those sorts of lessons at all. I think our USP as Greens is a different style of politics. Updated at 8.51pm CEST 8.31pm CEST 20:31 Polanski says he was on a platform with John McDonnell recently. Asked about cooperation between the Greens and Labour or other leftwing parties, McDonnell said at this point he was not interested in electoral pacts, but in intellectual pacts. Polanski says that is his view too. 8.29pm CEST 20:29 Polanski says he does now know what will happen to the Corbyn-Sultana party. As deputy leader, he knows how hard it is to get a party to agree on something, he says. He goes on: But if they get up and running, great, let's talk about how we work with them. And if they don't get up and running, let's make sure we're the party that was proud about our values … I think that's about reaching open the hands of friendship, cooperation, and recognising the real threat here is Reform, not Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana. In response, Chowns plays down the extent of her disagreement with Polanski on this. She suggests she is not against cooperation with the Corbyn-Sultana party. She just stresses that she thinks it is too early to be taking decisions about this, because it is not clear what is going to happen to the Corbyn-Sultana proposal. Updated at 8.34pm CEST 8.24pm CEST 20:24 Polanski says the Greens need to do some 'self-reflection' about the fact that, when Jerermy Cobyn and Zarah Sultana said they would start a new party, 500,000 signed up to say they were interested. He says he would like those people in the Green party. But the Greens need to recognise that 'this half a million people, for whatever reason, aren't connecting that yet with our values'. We need to step up. We need to be bolder. We need to make sure that those people know that if they align with our values, which I believe they do, that they are welcome in the Green party. I consider Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana, both personally and politically, people I want to work with. That does not mean I am talking down the Green party. That doesn't mean I believe we should go out there and fight for every vote and win every seat we can. Polanski says he was 'disappointed' to see on Twitter saying that the Greens would not become a Jeremy Corbyn support act. He goes on: Of course we are not the support act, but I also think that's a way of shutting down conversations before they've even begun. He says he does not know where those conversations might go. But the Greens should not be sending out 'tribal tweets'. He goes on: I think it's the time to be curious about what does a new politics look like? What does it look like when we get in the room and say, 'if we work together, how do we stop Reform? Updated at 8.30pm CEST 8.17pm CEST 20:17 The next question is about working with other parties. Could an alliance with other leftwing parties work? Chowns says cooperation is 'central to the DNA of the greens at so many levels in councils around the country'. As an MEP, she worked with other parties, she says. She is passionate about PR, she says. That is partly because it will force parties to cooperate more with each other. She goes on: So I am always up for considering cooperating with members of other parties wherever there is common ground. We've cooperated in parliament on all sorts of votes already. It's quite early to be thinking about the specifics of the next general election, it's probably four years down the road. And if you look back at the last couple of decades of politics, if you looked at any four-year period in that, any two-year, one-year period in that, you would be really hard put to predict where things would be at the end of that period … The prospect of a Reform government, or a Reform-led government, should really, really worry us. Polanski welcomes this. He says he thinks this is 'a shift in tone' from Chowns, who has previously played down the prospect of working with the Corbyn party. Updated at 8.22pm CEST 8.11pm CEST 20:11 The next question is about tackling antisemitism in the Green party. Polanski, who is Jewish, says it is not enough not being racist. The party has to be actively anti-racist. Chowns says it is possible to fight antisemitism, but also to oppose the policies of Israel. Updated at 8.12pm CEST 8.08pm CEST 20:08 Polanski says ecological boundaries matters as well as economic ones. He says London City airport is a good example. There is no need for it to exist, he says. There is no reason for London City airport. And actually, what would it look like if we made sure that there was a big public space there, we built thousands, if not tens of thousands, of social homes and council homes there to make sure people actually had a place to live. One in every 12 minutes a private jet takes off, some of them from London City Airport. That is completely the pinnacle of climate injustice. That is very wealthy people in the middle of our city polluting an area that has a lot of people living in poverty, a lot of Black and Asian communities there, all breathing in that terrible air pollution. Danny Keeling, the chair, seems to approve. He is a councillor in Newham and he says it is the worst borough in the UK for people having to live in temporary accommodation because of a housing shortage. 7.57pm CEST 19:57 The second question is about what can be done to keep rents down for small businesses and community organisations. Chowns says as a councillor she worked on this. She was a cabinet member of Herefordshire council, and they worked up a scheme for a three-tier rent system, specifically to help the organisations mentioned by the questioners. She says, in a Conservative-facing areas, Green policies on supporting small businesses are very popular. Polanski starts by saying somone will soon need to ask a question on which they disagree. He refers to the Sparks hub in Bristol as an example of how space can be used to benefit the community. In London Oxford Street is being pedestrianised. He says that should be a good thing, but campaigners need to check who gets to have the final say on how the space is used, he says. He says he is concerned about corporations being allowed to restrict what happens in their space. Updated at 8.14pm CEST 7.51pm CEST 19:51 Chowns says, when she came to parliament, she told people she would be happy if she became knowns as 'Mrs Solar Panels'. She says the government has responded, and is investing in this. Keeling thanks 'Mrs Solar Panels'. It's 'Dr Solar Panels,' she corrects him. Chowns has a PhD in sustainable economics. 7.49pm CEST 19:49 The first question comes from a member who is also a member of Unite. He asks how the party can show that net zero policies will be good for voters, and that workers in the oil and gas sector won't lose out. Polanski picks up on the fact the questioner is a union member. He says he has been endorsed by the president of the Bakers' Union. He claims this is the first time a trade union has endorsed someone outside the Labour party for decades. He says the Greens need to campaign for a just transition. And he attacks Reform UK for taking money from the carbon sector. Politicians, like racing drivers, should have to wear uniforms saying who their sponsors are, he says. Chowns also attacks Reform UK. She says they are whipping up fears about net zero. We're seeing those costs already flooding, overheating, excess heat deaths. We are seeing that already. The thing we've got to do as Greens is connect those stories and explain how it is that green policies [work]. For example, home insulation. Everyone wants to live in a warm home. Nobody wants to live in a home that leaks heat where their bills are going up while the heat is literally going out the chimney and the windows. But the government has missed opportunity after opportunity … Previous governments have actively refused to take the role that they should have done to support home insulation. We need a nationwide home insulation programme to get everybody's home up to scratch. Updated at 8.15pm CEST 7.42pm CEST 19:42 Polanski goes next. He starts by saying he agrees with Chowns. He says journalists try to suggest there is animosity in the contest. He says he does not accept that; it is an election, they are campaigning, but at the end they will come together. He talks about his campaigning as a member of the London assembly – on issues like homelessness, accessible transport for the disabled, the quality of social housing, the record of Labour councils. He has backed people on picket lines. He says people assume London is rich, but there is a lot of poverty. What I'm really talking about here is the deep inequality that's happening all across England and Wales, but it's really prominent in our city. People think London is a very wealthy place, and there are certainly places that have huge wealth in London .. And we know as a party that we want to tax multi-millionaires and billionaires, because it is corporations who are destroying our environment, destroying our democracy, and destroying our communities. Polanski says the Greens agree on strategy and policy. But the election is about communication, he says. He says that is people should think about when they start voting on Friday. The central question that is with you tonight is, who do you want communicating for you? Who do you want on that debate stage, taking it to the prime minister? Who do you want on the media and who do you want going up and down this country at rallies, in community halls, in faith organisations and community centres, saying it is time for a bold party of environmental, social, racial and economic justice. 7.35pm CEST 19:35 Chowns gets to go first with an opening statement. She starts by saying the venue is amazing (and it is lovely). She says there have been differences of tone in the contest. But it is important to remember what unites them, she says. She says her strap line, with , is 'together we win'. That is the point. She would not be an MP if it had not been for the 450 people who helped her campaign. She says at least one person in the room, from north London, went to North Herefordshire to campaign for her. Only in recent years have they learned how to win parliamentary and council seats. That has happened under the leadership of Ramsay and Carla Denyer (who is stepped down as co-leader.) And she mentions Zack Polanski's contribution too, as deputy leader. She talks about Green campaigning in parliament: Who is it in parliament that's standing up, calling for taxing wealth fairly? Who is it in parliament that's standing up, calling out our country's complicity and genocide in Gaza? Who is it in parliament who's been there at the forefront of the campaigns to reverse the universal credit and Pip bill, to reverse the winter fuel cuts, to campaign for social housing targets – a particular campaign of mine – to fix social care, to have the real climate action that we so desperately need to tackle the climate crisis. On all of those things. Greens have been at the centre of these debates in parliament, holding government to account in connecting the frustration indeed. She says that is the leadership she and Ramsay offer. 7.30pm CEST 19:30 We're starting. Danny Keeling, coordinator of the London Green party, is chairing. He introduces Zack Polanski and Ellie Chowns. 7.21pm CEST 19:21 The hustings will start at 6.30pm, we've now been told. 7.16pm CEST 19:16 Here are some of the main stories or articles from the Green party leadership contest so far. Novora Media reports that the Green party membership has grown by at least 8% since Zack Polanski launched his campaign. Polanski launches a well-received campaign video with an attack aimed at Nigel Farage denouncing 'racist narratives about strangers destroying everything' as 'bullshit'. finds it hard to admit he likes Polanski in an interview with LBC's Iain Dale. Adam Ramsay, a journalist and Green party member (not related to Adrian), explains in a Guardian article what he thinks the contest is about, and why he prefers Polanksi. Some longstanding members, Corbynites joining to 'back Zack' is scary. Some fear Polanski's mooted ecopopulism, worrying it will attract people who 'aren't really Green'. Much of this fear isn't about policy difference, but culture. Older fundi-types who liked Corbyn's socialism but feared that the movement behind his leadership was a 'cult of personality' now have similar worries about Polanski. Chowns and Ramsay, on the other hand, exude the kind of gentle, conflict-averse, consensual leadership style that the fundis used to advocate (sitting uncomfortably with their hyper-realo insistence on the centrality of Westminster). In other words, the Green party division isn't really so much about left and centre as it is about differing ideas about political power and how to wield it. For me, Polanski takes the realo acceptance of the need for charismatic leadership and blends it with the fundis' belief in extraparliamentary organising and social movements. Polanski says he would be open to working with Jeremy Corbyn's new party. But Ellie Chowns plays down the prospect of working with the Corbyn party. Ramsay says the party should avoid the 'posturing of populist politicians like Farage', in what HuffPost interprets as a dig at Polanski. Ramsay and Chowns tell the Guardian that Polanski's 'eco-populism' would prove polarising, divisive and likely to put off more moderate voters.
Telegraph
9 minutes ago
- Telegraph
White House warns Starmer: Stop threatening US tech companies' free speech
The White House has warned Sir Keir Starmer to stop threatening American tech companies amid mounting backlash over Britain's online safety law. Members of Donald Trump's administration are monitoring the Online Safety Act with 'great interest and concern' after key allies said it was censoring free speech and imposing unfair burdens on US businesses. The law, which regulates online speech, allows the British government to levy massive fines on companies like Apple, Truth Social, and X if it finds that rules on hate speech have been broken. Those in the president's inner circle see the potential penalties as an unwarranted foreign intervention into American free speech. 'President Trump has made it clear that free speech is one of our most cherished freedoms as Americans,' a senior US State Department official told The Telegraph. 'Accordingly, we have taken decisive action against foreign actors who have engaged in extraterritorial censorship affecting our companies and fellow citizens. 'We will continue to monitor developments in the UK with great interest and concern.' Since the law came into effect last week, Ofcom, the UK's online regulator, has written to several American firms ordering them to conform to the act, in letters seen by The Telegraph. It has sparked outrage from US lawmakers and legal experts, who say the overreach is a threat by the UK to silence American companies and citizens. Congressman Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary GOP committee, said the law was an attack on American companies. 'Ask Apple and they would view it as a $500 million attack,' he told The Telegraph. 'There's general concern... and then there's concern on how this impacts American citizens, American companies and infringes on our First Amendment. 'As long as foreign legislators, judges, and regulators continue their attempts to silence US citizens, we will not stop fighting back.' Mr Jordan also raised concerns over the bill's overreach with Peter Kyle, the Science Secretary, on Wednesday. Under the law, social media giants face fines of up to £18m ($24m), or 10 per cent of their annual revenue, if they fail to remove content deemed harmful from their platforms. While the measures are designed to protect young people from dangerous content, critics argue that it pressures platforms into censoring users by removing their content if it is disliked by others, even though it is perfectly legal. Social media apps such as X, Reddit and TikTok have been forced to introduce age verification checks since the bill came into effect last week. The warning to Sir Keir is the latest sign of Donald Trump's willingness to intervene in domestic British affairs amid a growing transatlantic rift over the protection of freedom of speech. During his meeting with the Prime Minister in Scotland, Mr Trump warned Sir Keir not to censor his social-media platform, Truth Social. 'Well, I don't think he's going to censor my site, because I say only good things,' Mr Trump said. In May, The Telegraph revealed that the president sent US officials to meet British pro-life activists over censorship concerns. The diplomats from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour (BDHL) travelled to London in March in an effort to 'affirm the importance of freedom of expression in the UK and across Europe'. Led by Samuel Samson, a senior adviser in the state department, they met with officials from the Foreign Office and challenged Ofcom over the Online Safety Act. Since then, the Trump administration has also raised questions about the conviction and sentencing of several high profile cases like that of Lucy Connolly. Connolly, a former childminder and the wife of a Conservative councillor, is currently serving a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence over a social media post published in the wake of the killings of three girls in Southport. After rumours spread online online that the killer was an illegal migrant, Connolly called for 'deportation now' and added: 'Set fire to all the... [asylum] hotels... for all I care'. Three Court of Appeal judges rejected the 42-year-old's case application last week, meaning she will not be released before August. And no case has raised concerns in Washington more than the prosecution of Livia Tossici-Bolt, an anti-abortion campaigner. The 64-year-old was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £20,026 ($26,624) in costs for breaching a buffer zone while praying outside an abortion clinic. At the time, the case threatened to jeopardise Sir Keir's trade deal with the United States. In a highly unusual intervention, the State Department's BDHL posted a statement on X saying: 'We are monitoring [Ms Tossici-Bolt's] case. It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression.' Ms Tossici-Bolt, who could have been handed a prison sentence, thanked the Trump administration for its intervention. Those closest to the president have long raised concerns about the erosion of free speech in Britain. In a speech at the Munich security conference in February, JD Vance, the US vice-president, cited British pro-life campaigner Adam Smith-Connor, who too was convicted for breaching a buffer zone outside an abortion clinic. 'Free speech in Britain and across Europe [is] in retreat,' Mr Vance said. Before his spectacular fallout with the president, Elon Musk was understood to be pushing Mr Trump to raise curbs on social media regulation in trade talks with the UK. Mr Musk, who has described himself as a free speech absolutist, said Britain's online safety laws amount to 'suppression of the people'. Several American businesses are now poised to bring a federal lawsuit against Ofcom. Preston Byrne, managing partner of Byrne & Storm, PC who is representing some of the US sites, said no foreign power should be allowed to 'cross our waterline'. 'I am instructed by multiple American websites to bring a federal lawsuit against Ofcom,' he said. 'No matter who is the target, the US free speech bar will not allow any American to be censored by a foreign government. No foreign power will be allowed to cross our waterline with unconstitutional and illegal orders.'
