UK riots: Cameron statement and Commons debate – live

• English cities were quiet overnight as calm descended • Vigil in Birmingham for three killed in alleged hit-and-run • Clashes with EDL vigilantes in Eltham, south-east London • Parliament meets today after emergency recall • Send us your footage of the riots • Upload photos to our Flickr group and see others’ photos • Read a summary of the latest events 11.18am: One consequence of the riots is that the number of people using the government’s new e-petitions website to sign a petition saying rioters should lose their benefits has gone through the roof. A colleague says it has almost hit the 100,000 mark – which is the point at which the Commons will consider making it the subject of a parliamentary debate. I would like to check for myself, but the website keeps crashing. Grant Shapps , the housing minister, was asked on Sky this morning if he supported the proposal. According to PoliticsHome , he argued that he was doing something similar anyway. Rather than talking in hypotheticals I can tell you what I’m actually going to do, which is I’ve just launched a consultation last week about tackling neighbours from hell where people have already had a conviction for anti-social behaviour in their neighbourhood. Should that then count against them when it comes to being evicted from their council house? Something certainly needs to be looked at so I’ve put it into a consultation last week. Today what I’m saying is I’m going to widen the remit of that consultation and ask the question, if somebody moves to somebody else’s neighbourhood and makes their lives a hell through rioting, for example, should that not count against them when it comes to eviction. Clearly I think that it should, and that’s why I’m putting it into the consultation to discuss it. Shapps also said that around 100 families had been made homeless as a result of the riots. 11.09am: This is Andrew Sparrow , taking over now from Haroon Siddique (who has been writing the blog until now with Matt Wells ). Parliament has been recalled and the politics live blog has been been recalled too. I’ll be blogging for the rest of the day, covering David Cameron’s statement to the Commons at 11.30am and then the debate about the riots which will carry on until 7pm. I’ll also, with help from colleagues, by covering any riot-related developments taking place outside Westminster. But I’ll be focusing on the Commons. It’s unusual for parliament to be recalled during a recess – Jim Pickard posted a list of recent recalls on the FT’s Westminster blog earlier this week – and you can tell it’s a big moment because “scaffold city” has gone up at College Green, where the broadcasters set up temporary studios on major parliamentary occasions. But what are we going to learn today? Here are three things to look out for. 1. What’s the government going to do? Cameron is expected to announce some emergency funding to help meet the costs caused by the riots. But, as the Guardian reports, the most interesting question is whether he will budge on police cuts. 2. Who’s going to win politically? At the moment, it’s hard to call. A YouGov poll released yesterday (pdf) showed that voters think David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson have all handled the riots badly. Since then, Cameron has probably recovered some ground (particularly because his comments about water cannon and rubber bullets yesterday seem to have impressed rightwingers who are too dim to realise that these measures are never going to be used – for the reasons that Sir Hugh Orde, the ACPO president, explains in a powerful article in the Indie.) Ed Miliband seems to have had a good crisis, but that’s largely because he’s avoided saying anything daft. By the end of today we’ll have a better idea of who’s up and who’s down. 3. Can parliament explain the riots? If you are looking are seeking a sophisticated explanation of a complicated event, a debate in the House of Commons is not normally the first place where you would look. Commons debates can be wretchedly banal. But they can also be extremely illuminating. As Alastair Campbell said on his blog yesterday, if parliament wants to be taken seriously, “it must be the place that starts a serious debate as to why this has happened, what it says about what Britain has become, and what if any policy and cultural changes need to be advanced.” 11.03am: There have been a lot of references to Blackberry Messenger being used to organise disorder ( the company behind Blackberry said it would hand over relevant information to the police ) but as far as I can recall this – from Hampshire police – is the first instance of people being arrested specifically in connection with use of the device: Three people have been arrested on suspicion of using Twitter and Blackberry Messenger to incite violent disorder in Southampton. Two remained in custody overnight and will be interviewed today, a third has been release on bail pending further inquiries. Our intelligence teams continue to monitor and take action against anyone using social media to attempt to cause riot. As today’s events are largely happening in the political arena, I’m handing over to my colleague Andrew Sparrow now, although I will be feeding into the blog if there are any other major, non-political, developments. 10.50am: The Guardian’s Jeevan Vasagar has this from Manchester: A woman with 96 previous convictions for theft pleaded guilty to stealing alcohol, cigarettes and mobile phone accessories which had been looted during riots in Manchester. Linda Boyd, 31, was one of a series of defendants who appeared before Manchester magistrates court, which sat late into the night on Wednesday. The court heard that she was drunk and had found an orange bin liner filled with the stolen goods in Manchester city centre, and began dragging it away, intending to share it with friends. Her case was adjourned to 16 August, when she will be sentenced at Manchester crown court. Boyd stalked from the glass-walled dock telling the district judge who presided over the magistrates’ court to: “Go away, shut up.” 10.39am: Jasmine Coleman , at City of Westminster magistrates court, reports that CPS prosecutors have said they have been working work patterns that they have never experienced before, with some having worked two night shifts in a row. She also has details of one of the cases from this morning: A university graduate, who had been pursuing a career in social work, pleaded guilty to theft during the London riots, after handing herself into police yesterday. Natasha Reid, 24, of Rosemary Avenue, Enfield, was in McDonalds on Sunday night when she saw looters ransacking the area and decided to join in. She stole a television worth £269.99 from Comet. Her defence said she was racked with guilt and had not slept since. Reid admitted theft and entering with intent to steal and was bailed to return for sentencing on 1 September. 10.09am: @riotcleanup, has posted a list of places where people in the capital can donate today to help people who have suffered loss as a result of the disorder. The locations are: Tottenham Green Leisure Centre, 1 Philip Lane, N15 4JA from 9am Camden Town 11am to 2pm Outside White Cube gallery/corner of Rufus St/Hoxton Square 11am to 2.30pm Outside the Majestic Wine Warehouse 63-63A, Chalk Farm Road, Chalk Farm, London, NW1 8AN. (Near the Nandos) 11am to 2pm Paddington Library 6pm It is asking for “donations of any kind, from clothes to household goods, new underwear, towels, blankets, baby food, disposable nappies, sanitary towels, toiletries, deoderants, make-up, magazines, entertainment etc”. @riotcleanup is also holding a meeting with the GLA to discuss ways forward on the clean up. The UK riot clean up page, set up by the Guardian’s communities team, also has details of where people can donate or seek help if they have been affected . And a blog – Keep Aaron cutting – has been set up for people to help restore a barber shop featured in the Guardian’s Tottenham riots damage photogallery . 9.55am: We have reporters at a number of courts today, as those arrested come before the authorities. Jasmine Coleman is at City of Westminster magistrates which has been sitting overnight. She says that about 100 preliminary cases have been heard in the past 12 hours or so and the court expects to process further 30 defendants today. Among them are some members of a 16-strong gang standing together over the rioting in London. 9.53am: Nottinghamshire police say an 11-year-old girl has been charged with criminal damage and attempted criminal damage and has been remanded in custody. Three people have been charged with posting messages on Facebook encouraging disorder – one in Sussex and two in Lancashire. Sussex police said Nathan Sinden, 27, who was arrested yesterday has been charged with “intentionally encouraging/assisting the commission of an either way offence, namely burglary and criminal damage”. Sinden, from St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, will appear at Hastings magistrates court today. Christopher Schofield, 25, from, Nelson, and Warren Calvert, 19, from Heysham, have been charged with intentionally encouraging or assisting in the commission of an either way offence, believing it would be committed, Lancashire police said. A spokeswoman for Lancashire constabulary said Schofield was bailed to appear before Burnley magistrates’ court on Monday and Calvert is due at Lancaster magistrates’ court on August 25. 9.30am: West Midlands police say they have been given more time to question a 32-year-old man on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of three men – Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30 and Abdul Musavir, 31 – who were victims of an alleged hit-and-run in Birmingham in the early hours of Wednesday. 9.18am: People are starting to emerge from the emergency Cobra meeting, chaired by David Cameron. Outside the meeting, the Acpo president, Hugh Orde, said there had been a return to a semblance of normality but there was no complacency. He also said he expected “hundreds” more arrests. 9.14am: The Metropolitan deputy assistant police commissioner, Stephen Kavanagh told BBC Breakfast more than 100 arrest warrants are being executed this morning ( a raid on an estate in Pimlico has already been reported ). He said there would be 16,000 officers on the streets again tonight and the situation will then be reviewed. Kavanagh also said some of his officers were “disappointed” with the punishments handed out to rioters and looters by the courts. That has been personally raised by me and others, and the commissioner I know has also raised it, so we will move through those issues and I am confident we will get the support of the courts. 9.02am: An estate in Pimlico has been raided by police in connection with the riots, according to Sky News’s Emma Birchley. She has tweeted : 55 met police officers carry out four co-ordinated raids on flats in pimlico’s Churchill estate related to #londonriots. Hugo boss clothes recovered with labels in and trainers in boxes believed to have been stolen during looting in #londonriots. Two arrested so far in Churchill gardens estate. Cash also recovered. Part of wider raids across London. Eyewitness Oliver Munson tweeted : Just seen at least 50 riot police raid the Churchill Gardens Estate, Pimlico. Doors being busted down, thieves rounded up. Good to see. 8.40am: This is Haroon Siddique taking over from Matt Wells. You can email me at haroon.siddique@guardian.co.uk or contact me on Twitter @Haroon_Siddique . After his interview with Radio 5 Live, Nick Clegg moved into the Radio 4 Today programme studio. He reiterated his claim that the cuts to the police force would not undermine their ability to control similar incidents in the future. He presented a number of arguments, including that the cuts to frontline police numbers will not be what people are saying they will be and that officers could also be drafted in from other areas to help when there is a particular flashpoint, as they have been in the past few days. The deputy prime minister was asked whether he agreed with his pre-election comments that that if a society becomes too greedy, it causes “these problems”. Clegg said he stood by those comments but added: None of that can be an excuse under any circumstances for people going out and trashing their own communities. He went on to say: We need to ask ourselves that why it is, why, when they had the opportunity, a number of people took that [and] their first priority was to go out and smash a shop window. But Clegg rejected the idea that the disorder should give the government pause for thought on its cuts programme. Nothing is going to be fixed by shrugging our shoulders and saying that all of the [debt] problems we’ve got now, we’re going to heap on the shoulders of the next generation. 8.01am: Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, is being interviewed on Radio 5 Live now. He’s being pressed on the planned police cuts. In a piece of logic that I somehow doubt will be accepted by his critics, he says the savings will allow police to put more officers on the street. I think it is ridiculous to try and draw a link between out-and-out criminality and savings we are asking police forces to make as if somewhow there’s a link between people smashing windows and savings the police forces have to make which will be entirely manageable and will allow police forces to dramatically increase officers on the street. 7.48am: As the riots die down, the commentators have been having their say. Here is a selection: In the Daily Telegraph, Allison Pearson asks how we ended up “with some of the most indisciplined and frighteningly moronic youngsters in Europe”. In a thoughtful piece, she says parents must take responsibility : What our young people need is adults to stop abdicating authority. They need police to police, teachers to teach, parents to parent, politicians and clergy to give moral leadership, and, above all, they need more people like Pauline Pearce, the jazz-singing Jamaican grandmother who fearlessly took on rioters and saved a white man from the mob. In the Guardian, Zoe Williams warns against the “Blitz spirit” turning into vigilantism . Big society might look like people on the streets with brooms or doner knives; but that’s not what functional society looks like. The New York Times carries a piece by London-based sociologists Richard Sennett and Saskia Sassen . Under the headline ” Cameron’s Broken Windows “, they draw parallels between government cuts here and calls to slash the state. Britain’s current crisis should cause us to reflect on the fact that a smaller government can actually increase communal fear and diminish our quality of life. Is that a fate America wishes upon itself? And finally in the Daily Mail, Melanie Phillips (not predictably at all) blames the riots on the “liberal intelligentsia” So now the chickens have well and truly come home terrifyingly to roost. The violent anarchy that has taken hold of British cities is the all-too-predictable outcome of a three-decade liberal experiment which tore up virtually every basic social value. 7.31am: The focus today will switch to parliament, which has been recalled for a special one-day session to discuss the unrest. The prime minister, David Cameron, will make a statement in which he is expected to spell out further plans to deal with the disorder and compensate riot-damaged businesses. Political leaders have been attacked for being impotent in the face of the riots. There will be intense pressure on politicians to come up with answers about how both to regain control of the streets in the short term, and what to do about the causes and longer-term repercussions. There will also doubtless be pressure over planned cuts to the police force. Our political editor, Patrick Wintour, reports today that Cameron is facing growing cabinet pressure to rethink the policing cuts . A senior government source said the Home Office would be advised to take a fresh look at its plans to cut £2bn from police funding over the next few years. “The optics have changed,” the source told the Guardian. We’ll have full coverage of the statement and debate with our senior political correspondent, Andrew Sparrow , who will be live blogging from Westminster. 7.22am: West Midlands police have issued an update about the situation in Birmingham . It said that officers have been arresting people linked to disorder in the area earlier in the week. Solihull Magistrates Court opened throughout the night to deal with some of those already in custody. Five have been jailed. 7.18am: The magistrates’ court in Manchester has been sitting overnight to deal with 117 people in custody in the city. Early indications are that tough sentences are being handed down from the bench. Owen Flanagan, 28, Levenshulme, was jailed for eight months after he pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary – stealing £75 of clothing from former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher’s Pretty Green fashion boutique and two electrical items. Bernard Moore, 46, of Monsall, pleaded guilty to using threatening words or behaviour likely to cause alarm or distress and assaulting a constable in the execution of their duty. Moore, who was said to have been clearly under the influence of alcohol or drugs, shouted abuse at officers trying to deal with disorder. He then attempted to gouge out the officer’s eye with his finger. He was jailed for 20 weeks. 7.13am: Police believe they now know the identity of the man who suffered life-threatening injuries when he tried to stop teenage rioters during disorder in Ealing , west London on Monday. Detectives investigating the attack on the man have also released CCTV footage of a suspect and a potential witness. You can read the full story here . 7.09am: Scotland Yard has said that 888 people had now been arrested in connection with violence, disorder and looting in London , with 371 charged. 7.03am: The Malaysian student who was mugged in Barking , east London, by young men who appeared to be going to his aid, has been speaking about his ordeal. Ashraf Haziq, 20, told one of his friends who visited him in the Royal London hospital in east London, that they threatened to stab him. His friend recorded their conversation in hospital and posted it on YouTube . Channel 4 News has translated the footage . Haziq said: “Some of them were quite young, maybe still in primary school. They had their hoods on and demanded my bicycle.” 6.45am: Good morning and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the aftermath of riots across England where there calm appears to have descended. Here’s a round-up of the main overnight developments: • There was no repeat of the mass disorder seen previously in London and other major cities, including Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester. There were a few minor skirmishes and a number of arrests but overall the situation across England was much calmer. • Police have been deployed in force in major cities across England. There were 6,000 police officers deployed in Birmingham. . At a vigil in the city for three men who were killed in an alleged hit-and-run incident on Tuesday, the father of one of the victims appealed for calm. • In London there were some clashes between police and EDL supporters in Eltham. Police made a number of arrests. • Special court hearings have been held into the night in cities affected by the rioting. Hundreds of people have now appeared in court. UK riots Crime Police London & South East Birmingham Manchester Liverpool Bristol Matt Wells Haroon Siddique Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 11, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.