The rioting which has erupted across the UK over the last week poses the first major test for the country’s new Labour government, just a month after it took power. The disturbances, triggered by false information about the identity of the suspect in the horrific killing of three young girls in the northern English town of Southport, subsequently spread to Liverpool, Manchester, Hull, Stoke and many other locations. In Rotherham a mob broke into a hotel housing asylum seekers and were only prevented from setting it alight by the bravery of a handful of police officers. Disturbances in Belfast also saw arson attacks on immigrant-owned businesses.
Hundreds of people have already been arrested and charged. Prime minister Keir Starmer has promised a “standing army” of specialist police will crack down on rioters, who home secretary Yvette Cooper has said will “pay the price for their crimes”.
A strong response is certainly required. Inflamed by far-right propaganda, the riots represent a violent assault on the values of tolerance which have long been a characteristic of British civil society. There have, of course, been racial tensions and unrest before, but taken as a whole the UK has done a better job than many of its European peers of building a successful, ethnically diverse country.
There is no doubt, however, that anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment has been rising. It is driven by extremist networks but also by an increasingly xenophobic political discourse emanating from mainstream parties such as the Conservatives and Reform, exploiting legitimate concerns about the country’s ability to cope with asylum applications. That discourse has been enthusiastically echoed by the right-wing press.
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Yet again there are questions to be asked too about the role of social media platforms, which appear impervious to regulation or restraint. The most egregious example is provided by X owner Elon Musk, who not only appears to have no interest in curbing incitement to hatred on his site, but has used his personal account to amplify far-right voices and predict an imminent civil war. Understandably, his behaviour has infuriated the British government, and may hasten the introduction of stricter legislation.
It is no accident that the cities and towns where the worst disturbances broke out are often the same places that feel most left behind economically and socially by the UK’s widening north-south divide, and which have yet to see any evidence of the Conservatives’ promises of “levelling up”.
The challenge for the new government, therefore, is not confined to restoring order and ensuring those responsible are brought to justice. Once that is done, the underlying fractures in the social fabric which the disturbances have exposed will remain to be addressed.