‘Brits fed up with false guarantees – darkish social media is driving them to riot’

Watching the closing ­ceremony of Paris 2024, I cast my mind back to our own 12 years ago. As an epic London 2012 reached its finale, Elbow’s Guy Garvey serenaded the world with these words: “Throw those curtains wide!”

He summed up our national mood: confident, positive, outward-looking. Compared to now, isn’t it worrying how far we have fallen? I don’t mean our performance – Team GB still did us proud with 65 medals. What was sad to see was a different kind of throwing and running on Britain’s streets. How have we ended up here? It’s time for an honest discussion. A serious attempt to re-establish common ground and heal some of Britain’s divisions. This is not excusing those caught up in violent disorder or inciting racial hatred. As the PM has said, they should feel the full force of the law. It’s about understanding why millions feel so alienated from politics. Inequality is the starting point.

Britain’s gap between richest and poorest is far too wide. There are far too many run-down and neglected places. False promises of levelling up have made the alienation worse. If all politicians accepted these points, and committed to acting on them, it would be a good foundation for any plan to bring Britain back together. We need to wake up to the effect social media is having on society. Back in 2012, it was in its early years and a lighter, friendlier place.

Since then, it has gone much darker – hijacked by rogue states and bad actors to undermine our institutions and divide our country. These days, it is almost impossible to turn on your phone and not encounter extreme hate and racism within seconds. Many of the accounts have generic names like “Concerned Patriot”. But who are they exactly?

I’m all for free speech but it must always come with accountability. There is none of the latter when these anonymous accounts go into overdrive in moments like the day of the Southport attack. End anonymity on social media. If you want to be on it, you should have to provide proof of identity and your name should be visible to all to see. Lastly, we do need a fact-based debate about immigration. Some of those who shout loudest on this need to face a difficult home truth. Rather than strengthening control of immigration policy, Brexit has weakened it.

Countries have to co-operate with each other. When we left the EU, we lost that co-operation on asylum and migration, hence our difficulty on the small boats. The UK needs to find more common ground. It won’t be achieved by people screaming at each other on social media.