Written evidence submitted by the Home Office (SDR0015)
Introduction
1. On 29 July 2024, a devastating attack took place in Southport which saw three young children lose their lives. The police demonstrated exceptional bravery and compassion in the face of an unimaginably distressing scene. The following day, those same police officers were facing the most disgraceful violent attacks from criminals and thugs. This disgraceful disorder and racist hatred, including that whipped up by a hateful minority online, was an insult to those grieving over the attacks in Southport.
2. Peaceful protest is a vital part of our democratic society. It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to gather and to demonstrate their views, provided that they do so within the law. However, the right to peacefully protest does not extend to behaviour that is violent or causes harassment, alarm or distress to others, as was witnessed during the disgraceful violent disorder that took place between July and August 2024. The Government is clear that the violent scenes witnessed were not protest; they were organised, violent thuggery and there is no place for this behaviour on our streets or online.
3. This submission sets out the Government's understanding of the timeline of violent disorder, the police response, and the Government recovery effort which remains ongoing.
Timeline of Events
4. On 29 July 2024, a mass stabbing targeting children occurred at a dance studio in Southport. Three children were killed. Ten other people, eight of whom were children, were injured.
5. On 30 July, a peaceful vigil was held in Southport by locals in remembrance of the victims. Shortly after the vigil, a gathering began outside the town’s mosque with a large group throwing items and causing damage. The disorder continued into the night with police cars set alight and damage to other properties and the surrounding area. Approximately 50 police officer injuries were reported.
6. On 31 July, large numbers gathered in Whitehall, London for a demonstration under the campaign “Enough is Enough”. Disorder broke out with attendees targeting police with flares. Over 100 arrests were made that evening. On the same day, disorder broke out in Sunderland with over 750 people attending and throwing objects at police, burning bins and looting shops.
7. On 1 August, a man was charged in relation to the attacks.
8. On 2 August, mass violence took place across Sunderland where missiles were thrown at police officers deployed to protect the mosque. Several cars and a police building were set alight and shops looted. Three officers were injured. A police building was ransacked and a Citizens Advice premises next door torched.
9. Over 3-4 August, further protests and counter protests took place in England and Northern Ireland. A number of these protests saw further disorder as well as arrests, and injuries to emergency workers. Such protests included in Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Hull, Blackpool, Hartlepool, Bolton, Bristol, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Belfast, Bangor, Carrickfergus, Leeds, and Manchester.
10. On 6 August, violence took place across the city of Plymouth and several officers sustained minor injuries as a result. Several members of the public were also injured, with two taken to hospital.
11. On 7 August, there were rumours of organised anti-migrant disorder across the UK. The locations for these potential events were mostly based from a list circulating on social media which detailed premises including immigration lawyers’ offices and charities supporting asylum seekers. These events largely failed to materialise, however thousands of anti-racism protestors rallied against the recent disorder. The majority of these protests were largely peaceful, but police intervention was required in places in order to keep the peace.
12. Since 8 August, there has not been any significant disorder or disruption.
The Police Response
Police Powers
13. The police have a range of powers to deal with public order related incidents. The use of any police power is an operational decision for the police.
14. Police Chief Constables must have regard to the Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR) when exercising their functions. The SPR sets out the Home Secretary’s view of what the current national threats are, and the national policing capabilities needed to counter them. Public disorder is identified as a national threat under the SPR, and requires police forces to maintain specific public order capacities and capabilities, with specific capacity requirements such as 297 Police Support Units (PSUs) across England and Wales outside London.
15. In response to complex policing operations, the police may need to move resources across force boundaries. The Police National Mobilisation Plan (NMP) provides a national guidance framework that enables this through tiered response levels.
Operational Response
16. Operation Navette, the national policing response to the disorder, was first stood up on Sunday 4 August 2024, led by the NPCC National Lead for Public Order and Public Safety, Essex Police Chief Constable BJ Harrington.
17. The resourcing for Operation Navette was the largest mobilisation of public order officers since 2011, and was the first time the NMP has been activated to create a national strategic reserve of public order officers.
18. The police worked with forces to deploy a percentage of the required SPR capacity on a regional basis for each day after the NMP was enabled. This percentage varied by day, based on intelligence and risk assessment.
19. Over 40,000 officer shifts were undertaken by public order officers between 7-18th August. In addition, police staff, officers and volunteers were working in a wide range of other roles to support the response; from call handling, to custody, to investigation, local policing and planning.
20. Saturday 10th August was the peak day for deployments, coinciding with the start of the football season. On this day, policing across the country saw the largest ever deployment in response to a spontaneous incident of public order officers in a single day, at 6,675 officers. This number equates to mobilising the entire officer establishment of the fourth largest police force in the country in a single day.
The Government Response
National Violent Disorder Programme
21. On 1 August, the Prime Minister met police chiefs in Downing Street for a roundtable discussion, where he said the scenes witnessed were not protest and not legitimate; rather they were examples of crime and violent disorder, an assault on the rule of law and the execution of justice. The Home Secretary said that the Government would work with senior police officers across the country to make sure there was rapid intelligence sharing and swift action to stop violent disorder and make sure criminals pay the price.
22. Following this meeting, the Prime Minister announced the creation of a new National Violent Disorder Programme (NVDP) to bring together the best policing capabilities from across the country to share intelligence on the activity of violent groups so the authorities can swiftly intervene to arrest them. This programme is being designed in close partnership with the police, and includes:
23. COBR meetings were held at Ministerial and official levels throughout the disorder to coordinate the Government's immediate response, with appropriate policing representation in attendance.
Online Misinformation and Disinformation
24. The online environment played a significant role in inciting violence, with initial speculation and misinformation purporting that the attacker was an asylum seeker. The Home Office worked with partners across Government and policing to stand-up real time analysis functions to understand the spread of disinformation and misinformation online following the Southport incident and initial disorder, alongside extremist narratives online, and calls to violence. Where necessary, information was referred to law enforcement-led harm specific referral units responsible for assessing and referring illegal content to online platforms for moderation or removal action.
25. In addition, the Government worked with social media platforms to proactively refer content likely to breach their platforms’ terms of service for them to assess and take action. Engagement with the major social media platforms was largely taken forward by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, assisted by the Home Office. The Government was clear that social media platforms should take action in line with the duties that will come into force in the Online Safety Act, rather than waiting for them to do so.
Community Cohesion, Places of Worship and Protective Security
26. On 5 August, the Prime Minister announced that those that had participated in the disorder and who had targeted the Muslim community would swiftly face “the full force of the law” in attempts to quell recent disorder.
27. In response to the violent attacks on mosques witnessed in locations across the country, the Home Office introduced a rapid protective security process for places of worship at risk of imminent violent disorder to ensure that communities felt supported and safe. This built upon existing protective security scheme for faith communities, including £29.4 million through the Protective Security for Mosques scheme and for security at Muslim faith schools, and £18 million through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant. The Government has committed to providing these funding levels until 2027/28. £3.5 million is also available for security at places of worship and associated faith community centers of all other faiths.
28. The Home Office accepted requests for rapid protective security from 2 August to 17 October. The offer was initially made to mosques and extended to places of worship of all faiths on 8 August. Under this offer, security personnel (guarding) services were initially deployed to vulnerable sites as a matter of urgency for up to four weeks.
29. On 17 October, sites were notified security personnel would be withdrawn on 24 October. Security personnel services have been retained at a small number of high-risk sites pending a full site assessment.
Riot Compensation
30. The provisions of the Riot Compensation Act 2016 permit individuals and businesses that experience property damage or loss as the result of a riot to claim compensation from the relevant Police and Crime Commissioner or Mayor. To date, claims from individuals and insurers related to the disorder are estimated at c.£1.8 million across England and Wales. PCCs are in the process of settling claims. Should any PCC find the level of claims unaffordable within existing budgets and reserves, these claims may then be considered for additional funding through the Police Special Grant.
Arrests, Charging and Sentencing
31. Following the immediate law enforcement response to the disorder, system partners focused on ensuring that criminals could be targeted, found and brought to justice quickly. The Prime Minister said those participating in the violence would “face the full force of the law”, while the Home Secretary said that police forces had her “full support in ensuring that those who engage in criminal disorder face the strongest possible penalties.”
32. The CPS deployed more than 100 additional prosecutors and expanded their 24-hour charging service to enable them to charge offenders more quickly. The CPS and police worked together to build strong cases, with the CPS providing early advice to support police investigations where needed. This included close working with the NPCC to publish joint statements reiterating that involvement in violent disorder would lead to the application of the full force of the law.
33. As of 13 November, the police have a made a total of 1,711 arrests, and as of 1 December the Crown Prosecution Service has charged 769 defendants in relation to the disorder.
34. 17 people were charged with inciting racial or religious hatred relating to the disorder. Prosecutions for offences of inciting racial and/or religious hatred in England and Wales require the Attorney General’s consent before proceedings are instituted. The Law Officers and Attorney General’s Office prioritised applications from the CPS for consent relating to the disorder to enable charging, court and sentencing to take place as quickly as possible. The majority of decisions were made the same or following day after the application was made.
35. As of 31 October, a total of 878 defendants have appeared before magistrates’ courts. At the Crown Court, 552 defendants had been sentenced, with the vast majority – 442 – receiving immediate custodial sentences.
36. The most commonly charged offences related to the disorder, and which proceeded to a first hearing at the magistrates’ court[1], were:
- Violent disorder (section 2 Public Order Act 1986 (POA 1986)) and Harassment, alarm or distress (section 5 POA 1986) – 374 offences.
- Common assault and battery (section 39 Criminal Justice Act 1988 and section 1 Assaults on Emergency Workers Act 2018 - 57 offences.
37. Prosecutors continue to work with the police, and we expect more referrals and charges in the future as investigations continue.
Prison Capacity
38. The violent disorder occurred at a time when the prison system was already under immense pressure, and operating in excess of 99% occupancy in the adult male estate.
39. In response to the disorder, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) brought forward over 500 additional prison places to meet increased demand.
Court Capacity
40. His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) acted to ensure that cases were brought to a hearing or trial in accordance with the interests of justice. Function and relevant issues were discussed with the judiciary, as listing is a judicial responsibility, to ensure that resources available for criminal justice were deployed as effectively as possible, and that cases were heard by an appropriate judge or bench with minimum delay. In conjunction with the judiciary, adjustments were made to planned sitting patterns as needed. Courts were able to meet the demand to hear the cases from existing court capacity; there was no requirement to activate the additional courts protocol.
41. HMCTS maintained regular contact with regional police forces to gather insight into the likely hearing levels. This helped to ensure there was operational resilience in terms of hearing capacity, security and custodial capacity.
Recovery
42. The Home Secretary made a statement to the House of Commons on 2 September. In this statement, she announced that she would ask His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) to review the lessons from the disorder to ensure strong coordination and intelligence systems are in place and that there is sufficient public order policing for the future. This inspection was formally commissioned on 6 September via a letter from the Home Secretary to His Majesty’s Chief Inspector Andy Cooke.
43. The terms of reference for the HMICFRS inspection are divided into two tranches. The first tranche looks at police preparedness, resilience and response. The formal outcome of this tranche will be published in December 2024. The second tranche of the inspection will look at the intelligence-led approach, online misinformation and disinformation, and the investigation of crimes linked to the disorder. The second tranche is due to be published in Spring 2025.
44. The findings from the first tranche of the inspection will provide a firm foundation for future work to enhance intelligence structures and capabilities, under the longer-term improvements of the NVDP.
45. The Government is also undertaking a cross-system lessons learned exercise into the criminal justice system’s response to the disorder. The Home Office is leading this work, with a completion date of early 2025. The exercise will aim to understand what went well and areas for improvement to ensure confidence in the cross-system response.
46. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has commenced work to support community cohesion. The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) chaired the first Cross-Government Recovery Steering Group on 11 September, which discussed how to best support affected communities, mitigate pressures, and alleviate the deep-seated issues which threaten cohesion.
47. On 12 September, the DPM announced a new £15m Community Recovery Fund - aimed at providing vital support to areas affected by the disorder. Alongside this, the Home Secretary ordered a rapid review of extremism to ensure the strongest possible response to ideologies that erode community cohesion and our democracy.
48. Police officers across the country demonstrated exceptional leadership and bravery in quelling the violent disorder. They faced repeated physical attacks and abuse, but maintained professionalism and commitment to protecting others. At least 127 officers were injured, and 69 were hospitalised. However, these events also illuminated the case for more fundamental reform to improve data and intelligence sharing across forces and regions. In drafting the Police System Reform White Paper, the Home Office will therefore continue work with policing to reimagine the delivery of operational capabilities for long term resilience, building upon the lessons learned from summer 2024.
Jan 2025
[1] These data are not taken from official statistics and are subject to change. The data also do not indicate the final outcome of the hearings or whether the offence charged was the substantive charge at the conclusion of the hearing. Offences data are not held by defendant or outcome.