Cameron, Miliband Seek to Seize Initiative Over How to Prevent U.K. Riots
Britain’s political leaders tried to seize the initiative following riots last week, with Prime Minister David Cameron promising a review of social policy and Labour leader Ed Miliband demanding a public inquiry.
Both men abandoned vacations last week to return to London as disorder and looting spread across England over the course of four nights. More than 1,580 people have been arrested in London since the unrest began and Mayor Boris Johnson said the figure may reach 3,000.
Cameron placed the blame on social breakdown and an abdication of responsibility by parents, teachers and government. He pledged intervention to turn around the “120,000 most troubled families in the country.”
“We have too often avoided saying what needs to be said -- about everything from marriage to welfare to common courtesy,” Cameron said in a speech in Oxfordshire. “From here on I want a family test applied to all domestic policy. If it hurts families, if it undermines commitment, if it tramples over the values that keeps people together, or stops families from being together, then we shouldn’t do it.”
Miliband, speaking at his old school in North London, attacked the government response, which ranged from suggestions of cutting welfare for rioters to blocking social messaging during disturbances. “A new policy a day, knee-jerk gimmicks rushed out without real thought will not solve the problem,” he said. He blamed a wider “immorality” in society.
‘Greed, Selfishness’
“We can’t honestly say the greed, selfishness and gross irresponsibility that shocked us all so deeply is confined to the looters or even to their parents,” he said. “It’s not the first time we’ve seen this kind of me-first, take what you can culture. The bankers who took millions while destroying people’s savings: greedy, selfish, and immoral.” He went on to list the scandals over lawmakers claiming for false expenses and phone- hacking by journalists.
The unrest began in the north London suburb of Tottenham after a local man, Mark Duggan, was shot and killed by police who stopped his car intending to make an arrest.
Cameron today dismissed suggestions that anger over government spending cuts or racial tensions were behind the riots, which he said were down to “criminality” and “indifference to right and wrong.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net.
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