Yvette Cooper will voice her fury over children left cowering in fear as rioters set buildings ablaze, spurred on by online “grifters and agitators”.
The Home Secretary will describe speaking to a terrified little girl whose mum told her to sit quietly in the dark as thugs lit fires outside in August. Addressing delegates a the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, she will say the Government’s swift action “put the disorder down”.
She is expected to say that following the horrific Southport murders in July, violence was “stirred up from a safe distance by the grifters and agitators online”. She will say: “Here in Liverpool, up on the County Road, the burning of Spellow Library – a place where children go to read – left in ashes.
“I spoke to some of those children who live around the library in Walton this weekend One told me how scared she was, how her mum switched off all the lights, told her to stay quiet and sit on the stairs, as the rioters started setting light to the bins along their street.
“Don’t anyone tell me that was protest.” The Home Secretary will continue: “Plenty of people across Britain have strong views on immigration, on crime, on the NHS and more.
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Liverpool Echo)
“But they don’t pick up bricks and throw them at police officers. They don’t set light to buildings when they can see people trapped inside.
“It happened because criminals thought they would get away with it.” Ms Cooper vows that the Government will “back police, not blame them” – a veiled reference to Nigel Farage’s whining about the swift justice that rioters faced.
The Home Secretary will tell the conference: “We stood up for the rule of law. Decent people stood up for their communities. And together, we put the disorder down.”
The Home Secretary is set to praise Alex McCormick, a young mum whose fundraising heroics raised over £250,000 to rebuild the community library. She will say: “She did her city proud, and she did our country proud. Up from the ashes, a symbol of destruction has become a symbol of hope… So leave the politics of fear, division and decline to others. The politics of hope is ours.”
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Liverpool Echo)
It comes as she sets out a crackdown on street crime to take back town centres from thugs and thieves. Ms Cooper will announce that visible policing will be brought back to Britain’s streets.
She will say coppers will havestrong new powers to crack down on persistent antisocial behaviour offenders – including those riding deafening and dangerous off-road bikes. And next year Asbo-style Respect Orders will be put forward, as well as a new criminal offence of assaulting a shop worker.
Labour has committed to bulking up neighbourhood policing by 13,000 officers and PCSOs. There will also be a new Knife Enabled Robbery Taskforce following a 13% increase in this time of crime over the last year.