British PM tries to regain upper hand after riots

London: For only the 14th time in the last 30 years, the British Parliament was recalled to respond to the recent riots that began in London a week ago but have spread to major cities across England. Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his holiday in Italy to deal with the violence that escalated throughout the weekend. Since his return, he has responded forcefully promising police 24-hour access to water canon and the use of baton rounds, often referred to as plastic bullets. [caption id=“attachment_59177” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Cameron defended the 6% cash cuts to police budgets as achievable. Ben Stansall/ AFP Photo”]  [/caption] Trying to underline his robust response, he told Parliament: “The whole country has been shocked by the most appalling scenes of people looting, violence, vandalising and thieving." “It is criminality pure and simple. And there is absolutely no excuse for it.” He promised: • 16,000-strong police presence in the capital would remain through the weekend. • £20m for a ‘high street support scheme’ to help affected businesses get back up and running. • Making the most use of CCTV. • Efforts to combat gangs. • An investigation into the use of social media to consider “whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality”. Compared to the spirited exchanges during Prime Minister’s Questions, there was a large degree of agreement that a forceful response was necessary. Opposition leader Ed Miliband’s response was mostly restrained, with a calm call on the Prime Minister to reconsider the cuts. Miliband left his backbenchers to attack the Prime Minister over planned police budget cuts. Miliband’s Labour Party has said that it will fight again police cuts, and they even have some support from Cameron’s Conservative party. Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson has broken ranks with his party to call for a halt to cuts to the police. “This is not a time to think about making substantial cuts in police numbers,” he said. Cameron slapped his former schoolmate on the wrist by responding: “Mayors, local authorities always want more money and I don’t blame them for that. It’s the government’s job to give them what they need and to make sure they make the most of what they get.” However, Labour MP Nick Raynsford asked the prime minister if he would accept Boris Johnson’s call for the cuts to be abandoned. In Parliament, Cameron defended the 6% cash cuts to police budgets as achievable. Although both parties have made pains to put aside political point scoring, the media has their score cards out. The Guardian’s Andrew Sparrow said while it’s too early who is up and who is down that a YouGov poll “that voters think David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson have all handled the riots badly”. As former Labour Party manager Rob Marchant said on Twitter:

Cameron’s marathon session, like his calling of the debate itself, brazen attempt to compensate for having arrived late to the party #riots