The Government has been “slow off the mark” in responding to the outbreaks of violence and disorder that have affected many parts of the country, according to Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly.
He told GB News: “The scenes that we've all witnessed, violence against police officers, violence against community facilities, violence against places of worship, mosques, arson, all these things are completely unacceptable and they cannot and must not be justified.
“The people who are perpetrating this violence need to be brought to justice. When the Government takes appropriate action, we will support them and when they have been slow off the mark, because I fear they have been, it was only yesterday afternoon we found out that Keir Starmer was going to cancel his holiday plans.
“COBRA is only meeting today after many days of violence and disorder. Why did COBRA not meet last week to make the decisions about mutual aid, support for police officers, extra funding, co-ordination across government departments?
“The Labour Party have got to get used to the fact they are no longer in opposition. It's not just about what you say, it's about what you do, and they have been slow off the mark.”
In a discussion with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he added: “Upon entering government, the Labour Party scrapped some big elements of our migration policy, including Rwanda, which was part of the deterrent effect, including scrapping some of the measures that I took to reduce the levels of net migration.
“Dealing with migration is incredibly important. I want to see the Labour government do better on that, but this violence and disorder is different. People are using excuses to perpetrate violence against ethnic minority groups and places of worship.
“There is no place for that in British society. That is not who we are. So, a conversation about immigration is important but dealing with violence and disorder is also incredibly important...
“We've seen that actually where people come together in the aftermath of this violence to help clear up…that's the country I recognise. That's the country that we need to protect.
“Those are the people who represent the best of us and those are the people on whose side we should all be on in government.”
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