Violent conflict, not traditionally a feature of life in Britain, arrived with brutal force this weekend. Angry mobs targeted mosques and attacked hotels housing migrants, setting at least one on fire. Businesses were looted, and groups of men have been seen gathering in force, holding weapons and attacking others. Although more than 400 arrests have been made so far, and no doubt more will follow, the police have often appeared outnumbered and unable to deploy sufficient force to quell the riots. The sight of officers in riot gear cowering against the wall of a hotel is a worrying one.
When the Prime Minister spoke on Sunday, he made it clear that ‘those who participated will face the full force of the law’ for their ‘organised violent thuggery’. Keir Starmer referenced the 2011 riots, which occurred during his time as director of public prosecutions, when rapid, exemplary justice saw rioters and those who had incited riots quickly being tried and sentenced.
Restoring order on the streets is not enough
Indeed, the government has indicated that, just as in 2011, courts will operate twenty four hours a day in order to achieve this goal. The aim is to quickly bring an end to the rioting, looting and disorder, and deter anyone thinking of taking part in the future. On Monday, Starmer promised to ‘ramp up criminal justice’ to ensure rioters are punished, and when asked about capacity his spokesperson insisted ‘there’s enough capacity in the prison system to lock up anyone involved in the riots that we’ve seen over the weekend’.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, echoed Starmer’s message, making it clear that the police will have whatever additional resources they need. Rioters, she said, will ‘face a prison cell because of what they’ve done’.
But the Britain of 2024 is not what it was in 2011, and the justice system, in particular, has far less capacity. Cassia Rowland, senior researcher at the Institute for Government, believes the dire state of the criminal justice system, with soaring court backlogs, full prisons and probation already overwhelmed, mean that ‘the kind of mass arrests we saw after the riots in 2011 are unlikely to be possible’, unless early release measures planned for September are greatly accelerated. These planned early releases already carry significant risks, including that the probation service might be overwhelmed and that crime will spike. Rowland believes that the condition of the justice system ‘limits the short-term options available to police to respond to the crisis’ and that the criminal court backlog ‘means that those charged could be waiting months or years to be tried’, because we have a ‘shortage of criminal barristers and solicitors’.
The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) agrees. They are ‘strongly opposed to any attempt to extend court operating hours’ and will ‘oppose [it] in whatever form it takes’. A CBA spokesman said that the criminal Bar already ‘struggle to cover cases as they appear for trial in the crown court’ even with ’25 per cent of available court rooms currently shut because of a shortage of judges’. The overall number of specialist criminal barristers is down by a quarter since the 2011 riots. Meanwhile, the Centre for Public Data reported last year that there is such a shortage of solicitors that nearly half of defendants appearing in magistrates’ courts on imprisonable offences had no legal representation.
A veteran lawyer said to me:
It is inconceivable that there will be an appetite at the CPS level to charge many of those arrested for these riots and take them through the formal courts process given the delays they already face handling a number of very serious crimes including knife offences, robbery and serious sexual offences.
The Ministry of Justice responded that the ‘CPS deployed 70 experienced lawyers to support police out of hours this weekend’ and that ‘after the 2011 riots, a protocol was put in place (the Additional Courts Protocol) that made clear that a decision to list additional courts was a judicial decision’. They confirmed they only intend for additional courts and extended hours to apply to magistrates’ courts. They have also accelerate the prison expansion programme, and will add 500 new prison places over the next month, noting that by early September the ‘early release programme…will be required to address the capacity crisis’.
The reality is that state authority always relies on belief. The people of Britain must believe that their voices will be heard and that the British state retains the capacity and will to enforce order. Those rioting are citizens, just as much as those who are not rioting. The unrest has been concentrated in white communities in towns and cities which have been ignored and neglected for decades. They voted for Brexit, and many voted for Boris in 2019, believing his promises of levelling up. If they believe that the democratic process has failed, and that the state is no longer able to punish effectively, then disorder like this is likely to continue.
Restoring order on the streets is not enough. We need our politicians to connect with and speak to these men and women, understand their concerns and respond to them. Otherwise such violence may become a more frequent feature of British life.
