Latest news with #post-Southport
Spectator
5 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Labour must confront the uncomfortable causes of immigration protests
That sound you hear is the penny finally dropping in Downing Street. Having spent the year since the horrific post-Southport riots blaming unrest over migration and asylum solely on misinformation and far-right groups, Labour appears to be realising the rot runs much deeper. Government officials, reports the Times, have warned the cabinet that Britain is 'fraying at the edges', after more protests outside of asylum hotels in Epping, Diss and now Canary Wharf (of all places). Angela Rayner is said to have told colleagues that immigration was having a 'profound impact on society', insisting the government needed to acknowledge 'real concerns' about rapid social change, twinned with a decaying economy. Indeed, the way Tory and now Labour governments have up to now dealt with the asylum issue would only make sense if it were designed to generate social conflict. The brunt of the small-boats crisis has been borne by some of the most poverty-stricken communities in the UK, purely because the hotel rooms there are cheaper and the glare of the London-based media is miles away. Then, locals' fears about the violent and sexual crimes committed by some of the men who have arrived illegally and unvetted are ignored, up until the point they spark a protest. Or worse. We've seen this time and time again. In Knowsley, in Merseyside, in February 2023; in Epping, now. A migrant is accused, or indeed charged, of sex crimes, leading to a protest, which then descends into mindless violence. In the case of Epping, the Ethiopian asylum seeker – whose arrest triggered last week's protests outside the Bell Hotel – was charged with three counts of sexual assault, one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and one count of harassment without violence. He'd racked up these offences after just eight days in the country. The protests in Epping – a leafy, prosperous Essex market town, populated by the old East End working-class-done-good – show this is clearly not just about poverty, either. There is now a deep sense of unease bubbling across society, about an asylum and migration system that has become an affront to common sense and a menace to public safety. And those who haven't imbibed the metropolitan multiculturalist script, which insists we all ignore the evidence of our own eyes, are now increasingly emboldened to voice their opposition. For a year, the government has refused to walk and chew gum at the same time on this issue. There is, of course, nothing that justifies the violence and racism we saw after Southport, or following otherwise peaceful protests since. Those on the right who cannot summon the minerals to condemn this bigotry, even when masked men are trying to push a flaming wheelie bin towards a Holiday Inn which has migrants inside, are engaging in their own form of moral cowardice. But only condemning this racism, or painting it all as some concerted 'far right' insurgency, as the government has, is clearly not enough, either. Whatever else you might say about them, the peaceful protests outside of that hotel in Epping are clearly not mini BNP rallies. Even the mainstream media have begun to concede this, with Sky News noting that Sunday's big demonstration was made up of 'families sat on the grass, multigenerations of them, kids playing in the sunshine'. 'Residents are simply angry about events that have unfolded here in recent weeks.' In voxpops from the demos and the town, residents seem ever-keen to insist they are not 'far right' and condemn the troublemakers who have also, inevitably, shown up looking to clash with police, attack hotel staff and abuse migrants in the street. By ignoring legitimate public anger, and the catastrophic policy failures that have produced it, the government has only created more space for those who want to leap on the asylum issue for their own despicable ends. The Labour government now has a choice. It can double down on decades of failed orthodoxies, while mumbling something about 'reasonable concerns', or it can rip them up those orthodoxies for the good of the country. Locking up rioters and condemning the uglier side of this unrest is the easy bit. Now is the time to end the mix of uncontrolled illegal immigration, govenment-compelled multiculturalism and official neglect of communities that has brought us to this precipice. Tough on riots, tough on the causes of riots.
The Guardian
13-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Decision not to classify Southport killer as a terrorist was right, says UK watchdog
The decision not to classify Axel Rudakubana as a terrorist following the Southport murders was right because it would be unhelpful to stretch the definition of terrorism to cover all extreme violence, the UK's terror watchdog has concluded. Jonathan Hall KC wrote that the 'legal definition of terrorism is already wide and should not be changed any further' in his post-Southport review of how extreme violence is legally classified. Expanding the definition would 'increase the possibility of inaccurate use and, in theory, abuse', he said. Hall concluded that while 'male loners, accessing violent material online, desperate for notoriety' present a real threat, terrorism must only refer to violence committed 'to advance a political, religious, racial or ideological cause', rather than serving as a label for the most serious offending. Hall said extending the definition of terrorism would have 'unintended consequences' such as hampering freedom of expression – for example, criminalising those swapping war footage – and placing pressure on resources. 'Any family member whose loved one was murdered by a violent fantasist or psychopath would have reason to ask why Counter Terrorism [Policing] and MI5 were not monitoring the individual and preventing the attack,' he said. The review was commissioned in January by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, to examine terror legislation 'in light of modern threats we face'. It followed a pledge by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to update legislation to address the new threat Britain faces from 'extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms' following the Southport murders. Hall said that instead police should learn lessons from counter-terrorism in how to manage the risk from individuals who plan to carry out extreme violence for its own sake or because of a personal grievance. This would include developing 'a bespoke policing response' informed by the understanding that counter-terrorism police have built in recent years of how to monitor dangerous lone actors and 'distinguish internet rhetoric and real-world attack planning', Hall said. This could pick up people such as Rudakubana, who was identified as a risk three times by the Prevent counter-terrorism programme but then dropped due to a lack of evidence of any clear extremist ideology. Rudakubana was jailed for a minimum of 52 years for the murders of three girls and attempted murders of eight other children and two adults at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in July last year. His attack was not considered terrorism under existing laws. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Hall felt that some counter-terrorism investigative powers, such as the ability to hold a suspect for up to 14 days pre-charge, were not 'relevant to violent-obsessives'. However he urged ministers to consider extending whole-life sentences to lone individuals who plan mass killings that are not motivated by terrorism. It is currently not an offence to prepare for a non-terror attack, unless so many steps are taken towards carrying it out that it becomes an attempt. 'This means that no prosecution would be available if the police raided an address and found careful handwritten but uncommunicated plans for carrying out a massacre,' he wrote. 'It has become clear to me during the preparation of this report during January and February 2025 that there is a real and not theoretical gap for lone individuals who plan mass killing. If mass killing is intended, it is neither possible nor desirable to limit the offence to cases in which particularly extreme or terror-inducing forms of violence are intended.' A government spokesperson said legislation would be amended to 'close the gaps identified' in the report. 'Today's report is an important step in that search for answers, and to tackle horrific acts driven by a fixation on extreme violence,' they said. They added that the government would look at the report's observation that social media was 'putting long-established principles around how we communicate after an attack like this under strain' and the challenge of tackling misinformation. A public inquiry into the Southport tragedy would be set up soon, the spokesperson said.
