RIOTS: Ed Miliband visits Chalk Farm

MONDAY AUGUST 15, 2011

BY RICHARD OSLEY

ED Miliband returned once again to his former school in Chalk Farm this morning to talk about rioting which wrecked nearby shops. The Labour Party leader gave a speech to an audience largely made up of Labour supporters at Haverstock School. He said the trail of damage left by the rioting along Chalk Farm Road was his old route to school. He has made several returns to the school since becoming an MP and filmed an election broadcast there earlier this year. Earlier, he visited Evans bike shop which was looted during eight hours of disorder in Camden.

Speaking in Haverstock's assembly hall, he said: "What can be done now to prevent it happening again? There is an easy and predictable path for politicians. It might even be the more popular in the short term – and I heard some people demand it on the streets.It puts the riots down to “criminality” pure and simple. And stops there. It says that to explain is to excuse. If others wish to tread this path, that is a matter for them. But it’s not the one for me."

He added: "It is not strength but an absolute abdication of responsibility to the victims, our communities and the country. Because if we follow that approach, we run the risk of disturbances happening again. As Bill Bratton, the former LA police commissioner, put it: “you cannot arrest your way out” of the problem. There is another path, simply to blame others. Blame the parents. Blame the so-called underclass. Blame the police. And we’ve certainly seen a lot of that in the last few days. Our police force, already being undermined by cuts to the number of officers, now undermined further."

"An unseemly attempt by Government to take credit for operational decisions when things went well and to criticise them when things didn’t. So wrong. And the approach of blaming others, so simple. And, I am afraid, so simplistic. Instant and simple judgements bring bad solutions. Of course, there is a demand for quick action.But a new policy a day, knee-jerk gimmicks rushed out without real thought will not solve the problem. The politician’s instinct, reach for new legislation, appoint a new adviser, wheel out your old prejudices, will not meet the public’s demand for real answers and deep rooted, lasting solutions. We’ve heard it all in the last few days.Water cannon. Supercops. A daily door knock for gangs. And today, more gimmicks."

Full Ed Miliband speech at Haverstock here.

See Thursday's New Journal for the full story.