Prime minister says government left with ‘no other choice’ but to make difficult decisions after discovering £22bn ‘black hole’ in public finances
Keir Starmer said the riots this summer exposed the state of a “deeply unhealthy society”, adding that a “mindless minority of thugs” thought hey could get away with criminality because of the broken justice system.
He said:
A mindless minority of thugs who thought that they could get away with causing chaos, smashing up communities and terrifying minorities, vandalizing and destroying people’s property, even trying to set fire to a building with human beings inside it, and as if that wasn’t despicable enough, people displaying swastika tattoos, shouting racist slurs on our streets…
Now they’re learning that crime has consequences, that I won’t tolerate a breakdown in law and order under any circumstances, and I will not listen to those who exploit grieving families and disrespect local communities. But these riots, didn’t happen in a vacuum. They exposed, the state of our country, revealed a deeply unhealthy society. The cracks in our foundations laid bare.