Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer 'cancels European summer holiday' to focus on riot response at home - as Justice Secretary warns far-right thugs have clogged up the justice system
- PM cans his holiday - and will work from Downing Street and Chequers instead
- Political rivals and the public had disagreed with his plans to jet off on a break
- READ MORE: 'The flag is for heroes' says Amir Khan as he hits out at far-right
Sir Keir Starmer has cancelled his family holiday to Europe so he can focus on the government's response to the far-right riots sparked by the Southport stabbings.
The Prime Minister had been expected to jet off on a summer break this week - but was condemned by political rivals and the general public for considering doing so during a time of national crisis.
Instead, Sir Keir will work from Number 10 and Chequers, the PM's official country residence, this weekend and into next week after he warned that police would be on 'high alert' this weekend, despite the threat of far-right riots appearing to dissipate.
His decision to remain in the UK comes as the justice secretary warned that the actions of far-right thugs were likely to have long-lasting consequences for Britain's already overstretched justice system.
Shabana Mahmood said the riots were likely to set back the Labour government's attempts to fix the country's backlogged court system and its prisons, which in the case of male offenders are at 99 per cent capacity.
Sir Keir Starmer has decided not to take a holiday following the UK riots after a public outcry
Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood says the impact of the riots on the justice system will be felt for 'months and years to come'
The scene of the attack at a community hall in Southport on July 29 in which three young girls died
(Left to right) Southport victims Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six and Alice Dasila Aguiar, nine
Thugs during a far-right anti-immigration protest in Rotherham on August 4 - thought to have been sparked by online hate mobs
Far-right protesters attack police in riot gear with wooden planks outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham
The crackdown on rioters has been swift. Pictured is Stacey Vint, who has been jailed for 20 months after pushing a wheelie bin at police and falling over in the process
A thousands-strong anti-racism protest in Walthamstow, where far-right thugs had reportedly intended to assemble outside an immigration office on Wednesday
Writing in the Observer, the minister said: 'The impact of these days of disorder will be felt for months and years to come. They make the job of rebuilding the justice system harder.
'They also offer a sobering reminder of how much worse things might have been had this Government not acted fast, a few weeks ago, to address the crisis in our criminal justice system before it was too late.'
Soon after being elected in July, the Government announced plans to release some inmates early to free up prison space - which could include some of those just jailed for taking part in rioting.
A YouGov poll found 71 per cent of Brits believed the PM should avoid taking a holiday in the wake of widespread violence that has seen hundreds arrested and scores already convicted of offences related to the disorder.
Tory hopeful Robert Jenrick had branded the plans for the getaway 'completely wrong' following huge unrest, believed to have been engineered by the far-right online, in the wake of the July 29 Southport stabbings.
Sources briefed the Reuters and PA news agencies on the PM's decision to cancel his holiday earlier today.
Far-right mobs had cynically exploited the deaths of three children in Southport on July 29 in order to pursue an agenda of racist hate.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed camp in Southport on 29 July.
Axel Rudakubana, 17, born in Cardiff to parents from Rwanda, has been charged with three counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed weapon.
The protests are thought to have been fuelled by misinformation about the identity of the suspect in the Southport case on social media.
A 55-year-old woman has been bailed after being arrested on suspicion of publishing material to stir up racial hatred.
Despite pleas from the Southport victims' families for calm, thugs torched libraries, shops and even a Citizens Advice centre as they lobbed bricks and missiles at police and looted shops in demonstrations across the country.
Police were also dispatched to hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and Tamworth as thugs smashed windows and threw wooden planks while horrified refugees could only look on from within.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, pictured as a child, has been charged with their murders and the attempted murders of 10 others, as well as possession of an offensive weapon
Residents of Southport expressed their grief and love with a vigil earlier this week, with bubbles blown and gifts and teddies left in the town centre
'Anti-immigration' protesters outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, which is being used to house refugees
Burnt wheelie bins outside the Spellow Library in Liverpool, which was torched by thugs
King Charles has voiced his support for ordinary Brits pushing back against the 'aggression and criminality from a few with the compassion and resilience of the many'
Jenni Stancombe, mother of victim Elsie, had begged after the first night of violence in Southport: ''This is the only thing that I will write, but please stop the violence in Southport tonight.
'The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don't need this.'
And the family of a girl who survived the attack said in a statement this week: 'We were deeply saddened by the recent disorder and the attacks on our police force.
'It is important to highlight that when the horrific events unfolded, our police officers were the first on the scene.'
Matters appeared to come to a head on Wednesday when thousands of anti-racism protesters assembled across Britain to head off alleged attacks on immigration lawyers and asylum centres planned by the far right on Telegram.
However, the thugs failed to show or were vastly outnumbered - prompting hate figures to claim the reputed plot never existed in the first place.
Scenes of devastation across the country prompted a hitherto unseen intervention from King Charles III, who praised how Brits had 'countered the aggression and criminality from a few with the compassion and resilience of the many'.
More people appeared in court on Saturday over the recent protests as anti-racism demonstrators gathered in cities including Belfast and Edinburgh.
Thousands of anti-racism protesters also gathered outside Reform UK's headquarters in London.
On Friday, officials said 741 arrests had been made since the unrest broke out and 302 people had been charged.
