Derby Telegraph

PM in further talks to keep lid on disorder

THE Prime Minister has chaired another Cobra meeting with law enforcemen­t officials to “reflect on last night” and plan for the coming days.

Sir Keir Starmer held the third high-level gathering of its kind in the past week, after threats of further disorder largely failed to materialis­e on Wednesday evening.

Yesterday’s meeting came as jail terms have been handed out to some rioters, while others face charges relating to disorder across the country.

Police had expected more than 100 events on Wednesday night, with 30 counter-demonstrat­ions planned.

Shops were boarded up in many towns and cities over fears of rioting after a week of violent disorder.

Further violence was largely curtailed, but the Prime Minister insisted it was “important that we don’t let up”.

Following a visit to a mosque in Solihull, he told broadcaste­rs: “Now it’s important that we don’t let up here and that’s why later on today I will have another Cobra meeting with law enforcemen­t, with senior police officers, to make sure that we reflect on last night but also plan for the coming days.”

Sir Keir said Wednesday night’s events turned out “much better than was expected”, and suggested the additional deployment of police officers and the quick sentencing of people involved in disorder were the reasons riots did not materialis­e.

“We were able to demonstrat­e the criminal justice system working speedily, so yesterday we saw the sentencing of individual­s who had been involved in disorder days ago, some of them getting sentences as long as three years.

“That sent a very powerful message,” the Prime Minister said.

In the West Midlands, Sir Keir also held a roundtable discussion with Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker, and members of the Muslim community, and met police officers who attended recent disorder.

People charged with offences related to rioting have continued to appear in the dock across the country.

This has included appearance­s at magistrate­s courts in Hull, Stratford, Westminste­r, Leeds, Sheffield, and Northampto­n.

At least 156 police officers have been injured so far in the unrest with 71 being taken to hospital, the PA news agency understand­s.

This is the latest known figure of officer injuries from around half of the 43 forces in England and Wales, according to police sources.