David Cameron: We need to have a clearer code of standards and values

Here is Prime Minister David Cameron’s Downing Street statement in full:

Prime Minister David Cameron and (right) Tariq Jahan with a photo of his son Haroon who died in Winson Green, Birmingham Photo: EPA/PA

”Since yesterday there are more police on the street, more people have been arrested and more people are being charged and prosecuted.

Last night there were around 16,000 police on the streets of London, and there is evidence a more robust approach to policing in London resulted in a much quieter night across the capital.

And let me pay tribute to the bravery of those police officers and indeed everyone working for our emergency services.

In total there have been 750 arrests in London since Saturday, with more than 160 people being charged.

Today, major police operations are under way as I speak to arrest the criminals who were not picked up last night but who were picked up on closed circuit television cameras.

Picture by picture, these criminals are being identified, arrested and we will not let any phoney concerns about human rights get in the way of the publication of these pictures and arrest of these individuals.

As I speak, sentences are also being passed, courts sat through the night last night and will do again tonight.

It is for the courts to sentence but I would expect anyone convicted of violent disorder will be sent to prison.

We needed a fight back and a fight back is under way.

We have seen the worst of Britain but I also believe we have seen some of the best of Britain: the million people who have signed up on Facebook to support the police; communities coming together in the clean-up operations.

But there is absolutely no room for complacency and there is much more to be done.

Overnight we saw the same appalling violence and thuggery that we have seen in London in new cities, including Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham.

In the West Midlands, three men were killed in a hit-and-run in Birmingham and the police are working round the clock to get to the bottom of what happened and bring the perpetrator to justice.

In Birmingham, over 160 arrests were made.

In Salford, up to 1,000 youths were attacking the police at the height of the disturbance.

Across Greater Manchester, more than 100 arrests were made and, in Nottinghamshire, Canning Circus police station was firebombed and over 80 arrests were made.

This continued violence is simply not acceptable and it will be stopped.

We will not put up with this in our country, we will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets.

Let me be clear, at Cobra this morning we agreed full contingency planning is going ahead.

Whatever resources the police need they will get, whatever tactics police feel they need to employ, they will have legal backing to do so.

We will do whatever is necessary to restore law and order on to our streets.

Every contingency is being looked at, nothing is off the table.

The police are already authorised to use baton rounds and we agreed at Cobra that while they are not currently needed, we now have in place contingency plans for water cannon to be available at 24 hours’ notice.

It is all too clear that we have a big problem with gangs in our country. For too long there had been a lack of focus on the complete lack of respect shown by these groups of thugs.

I’m clear that they are in no way representative of the vast majority of young people in our country who despise them, frankly, as much as the rest of us do.

But there are pockets of our society that are not just broken but frankly sick.

When we see children as young as 12 and 13 looting and laughing, when we see the disgusting sight of an injured young man with people pretending to help him while they are robbing him, it is clear that there are things that are badly wrong with our society.

For me, the root cause of this mindless selfishness is the same thing I have spoken about for years.

It is a complete lack of responsibility in parts of our society, people allowed to feel the world owes them something, that their rights outweigh their responsibilities and their actions do not have consequences.

Well, they do have consequences.

We need to have a clearer code of standards and values that we expect people to live by and stronger penalties if they cross the line.

Restoring a stronger sense of responsibility across our society in every town, in every street, in every estate is something I am determined to do.

Tomorrow Cobra will meet again, Cabinet will meet, I will make a statement to Parliament, I’ll set out in full the measures that we will take to help businesses that have been affected, to help rebuild communities, to help rebuild the shops and buildings that have been damaged, to make sure the homeless are rehoused, to help local authorities in all the ways that are necessary.

But today, right now, the priority is still clear: we will take every action necessary to bring order back to our streets.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8693134/UK-riots-David-Camerons-statement-in-full.html

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