Ministers will consider whether the English Defence League should be banned following riots on the streets of Southport, Angela Rayner suggested today.
The deputy PM said the government ‘will look at various different groups’ amid widespread condemnation of violence that broke out after the horrific knife attack on children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Angry politicians have blamed ‘lies and propaganda’ on social media for igniting the chaos, while heartbroken Southport families have accused hoodlums of showing ‘no respect to a town that is grieving’.
Tributes have poured in for the three girls killed who police yesterday named as six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar.
Eight other children suffered stab wounds at the summer holiday dance workshop. Five are in a critical condition, alongside two women who were also critically injured as they bravely tried to save the children.
But the rioting erupted barely an hour after thousands of mourners had gathered for a vigil to remember the victims.
Asked during an interview on LBC whether the EDL’s activities would be curbed, Ms Rayner said: ‘We have laws and we have proscribed groups and we do look at that and it is reviewed regularly.
‘So I’m sure that that will be something that the Home Secretary will be looking at as part of the normal course of what we do and the intelligence that we have.’
A Home Office spokeswoman said: ‘We do not comment on whether a specific organisation is or is not being considered for proscription.’ Sources insisted no commitment had been made to take any action.
Riot police hold back protesters near a burning police vehicle after disorder broke out in Southport
Deputy PM Angela Rayner said the government ‘will look at various different groups’ amid widespread condemnation of violence that broke out after the horrific knife attack on children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class
Southport burns: A street near a mosque goes up in flames as violent thugs took to the streets last night
Three girls were killed in a bloody rampage on Hart Street on Monday. On Tuesday, a vigil was held for the victims on Lord Street. While it was going on, a man with a flick knife was arrested on Eastbank Street. On St Luke’s Road, riots erupted outside a mosque – also on Tuesday
The PM insisted that those who rioted in Southport last night will ‘feel the full force of the law’
Keir Starmer lays a floral tribute to the knife rampage victims in Southport yesterday
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and local MP Patrick Hurley inspect tributes in Southport
Ms Rayner added: ‘The inciting of violence and violence on the street has absolutely no place in our democracy, and we have to crack down on those that perpetuate violence and spread it within our communities.’
However, she said ‘the bigger issue is about taking on the minority of people that have got thuggish behaviour, that actually that’s not our British values’.
Merseyside’s Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell said there is a ‘strong feeling’ that members of the EDL used the Southport stabbing to ‘whip up hatred’.
Ms Spurrell told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that the ‘violence and abuse’ towards police officers on Tuesday was ‘utterly abhorrent and completely unacceptable’.
She said: ‘(Merseyside Police) will be reviewing the footage of exactly who was there last night, they have been monitoring the online activity as well, trying to understand who was doing what.
‘They have said that they believe it was members of the English Defence League (EDL), they don’t believe it was individuals from the local area.
‘There is a strong feeling that there are individuals like the EDL, who have been using this incredibly tragic event to whip up hatred, incite violence, and that’s the result of what we saw last night.’
Scotland’s former first minister Humza Yousaf has called for the EDL to be banned under terror laws in the wake of the unrest, despite former leader Tommy Robinson’s insistence that the group no longer exists.
Keir Starmer has insisted those responsible for the rioting should face the ‘full force of the law’ after a police van was torched and several officers injured.
On St Luke’s Street near the vigil, rioters chanting ‘English till I die’ surrounded the Southport Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre and began hurling rubble at police officers who had formed a protective line around the building.
The violence appears to have been fuelled by false claims online that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat.
The 17-year-old boy, who remains in custody accused of murder and attempted murder, is originally from Cardiff but now lives in the nearby Lancashire village of Banks.
Merseyside Police said 22 of its officers were injured after clashes broke out in the seaside town.
Writing on X, Sir Keir said: ‘The people of Southport are reeling after the horror inflicted on them yesterday.
‘They deserve our support and our respect. Those who have hijacked the vigil for the victims with violence and thuggery have insulted the community as it grieves.’
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said ‘scenes of thuggery’ on the streets of Southport ‘bear no relation’ to the community which had been coming together.
She told broadcasters: ‘I think everyone should be showing some respect for the community that is grieving and also for the police who are pursuing an urgent criminal investigation now, and who showed such heroism and bravery yesterday in the face of these horrific attacks.
‘I think everyone needs to support the police in that work, and frankly the scenes of thuggery that we have seen on the streets of Southport this evening bear no relation to the way in which the Southport community has been coming together to support each other and to support grieving families.
‘We need to see some respect for the grieving community and for the police in their urgent work.’
Patrick Hurley, Southport’s Labour MP, said this morning that the riots occurred because of the ‘propaganda and lies’ spread on social media about the identity of the attacker.
He told Times Radio: ‘Because of the propaganda and the lies that were being spread around on social media from within minutes of the news breaking on Monday afternoon about the tragic incident.
‘We’d had all sorts of lies being spread and misinformation being spread about the alleged perpetrator and some people with the best of intentions then they tried to rebut this, they tried to argue back, but all that happens is you’re just amplifying people’s false messaging.’
He added: ‘This misinformation doesn’t just exist on people’s internet browsers and on people’s phones. It has real world impact.
‘And what happened is that the real world impact of that was that we then had hundreds of people descending on the town, descending on Southport from outside of the area, intent on causing trouble, either because they believe what they’ve written, or because they are bad faith actors who wrote it in the first place, in the hope of causing community division.’
Mr Hurley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the rioters were ‘not from Southport’ and must face the ‘full force of the law’.
‘Even if this lad, the 17-year-old, turns out to be Muslim, under no circumstances does that justify any attack on a mosque by anybody at all,’ he said.
‘Not least these beered-up thugs who have descended on the town last night intent on causing trouble.
‘We all have to stand against that and Southport will not accept this.
‘Southport will unite against this sort of thing.’
A police van was set on fire near a mosque in Southport on Tuesday evening as riots broke out
Around 200 protesters were seen taking to the streets. Police believe many were EDL supporters
A burnt out police van near a mosque in Southport as shocking riots broke out on Tuesday
Riot police vans were damaged amid the chaos near the Southport Mosque
The riots came barely an hour after thousands of mourners gathered for a vigil at the Atkinson in Southport
In stark contrast to the riots on the streets, there was a sense of tranquility at the site of the vigil as night fell
Merseyside Police has issued a warning over an ‘incorrect’ name being widely circulated online, adding: ‘We would urge people not to speculate on details of the incident while the investigation is ongoing.’
The angry mob – who police ‘believed to be supporters of the English Defence League’ – started targeting the Muslim place of worship at around 7.45pm.
Eight police officers suffered serious injuries, including one who was knocked unconscious. Protesters also torched cars and wheelie bins belonging to members of the public, shattered the mosque windows with bricks and looted shops.
One Southport resident living near the mosque told how he, his partner and their young daughter fled for the evening, not wanting her to see the sickening violence.
The man said: ‘We just couldn’t stay while this was going on and allow our daughter to witness it.
‘This doesn’t represent Southport – they’re EDL thugs who are from Manchester and Liverpool who have just come here to cause trouble. They have no respect for a town that’s grieving.’
Police have introduced a 24-hour Section 60 Order in the area where the riots took place and extra officers will remain in the area.
