Keir Starmer warns rioters 'bent on violence' and preparing for summer of chaos

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed the far-right "absolutely bent on violence" will not be able to coordinate a summer of riots.

The Prime Minister blasted thugs who “got on trains and buses” to rampage through Southport, Hartlepool and London this week after the horrific fatal stabbing of three schoolgirls in Merseyside.

Sir Keir confirmed police will share more intelligence on the hooligans and ban them from using public transport to prevent causing havoc over the coming weeks.

Sources believe violent criminals go from “place to place” and shifting tactics will prevent officers from being outnumbered.

Officials are concerned individual forces are being left to fend for themselves against co-ordinated agitators who have all agreed to travel across the country from different places.

But police forces sharing details on where criminals are travelling from, including by identifying spikes in train and bus tickets being purchased, and a greater use of facial recognition technology, could allow police to disrupt the violence.

They also want planned ‘meets’ advertised online to be shared amongst police intelligence units nationally to warn of possible disorder.

The Prime Minister said: “It is obvious to me and obvious to anybody looking in that as far as the far-Right is concerned this is coordinated, this is deliberate, this is not a protest, it is a group of individuals that are absolutely bent on violence.

“It’s important to pull together the senior police and law enforcement leaders as we did today to ensure that is met with the most robust response in the coming days and weeks.”

Asked how he will stop the far-Right, Sir Keir said: “The price paid for those that put out misinformation and interfere in the work that the authorities are trying to do in Southport, the price is paid ultimately by the mums and dads who are grieving their children.”

“Nobody should pretend that they are speaking for those families when they engage in activity like this.”

More than 100 people were arrested after protesters in London launched beer cans and glass bottles at police, and threw flares at the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.

Another thug was seen performing a Nazi salute.

Demonstrators wearing England flags and waving banners saying "enough is enough" and "stop the boats" had congregated outside Downing Street, with chants of: "We want our country back" and: "Oh Tommy Robinson."

Confrontations continued late into the night in Hartlepool, where rioters set fire to a police car and pelted officers with missiles, including glass bottles. At least 11 people have been arrested so far.

The string of violent incidents followed similar scenes in Southport on Tuesday, where demonstrators attacked police and set cars on fire.

In a televised address from Downing Street after a week of violence in London, Hartlepool, Manchester and Southport, the Prime Minister announced a new "national capability" to tackle the disorder across police forces in England.

He said: "These thugs are mobile, they move from community to community.

"We must have a policing response that can do the same."

The Prime Minister also warned social media companies about misinformation spread online about the identity of the 17-year-old suspect, including false claims that he was an asylum seeker.

"Let me also say to large social media companies and those who run them: violent disorder, clearly whipped up online, that is also a crime, it's happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere," he said.

"That is the single most important duty of government, service rests on security. We will take all necessary action to keep our streets safe."

Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, also warned that speculating about the attack could risk prejudicing the active criminal proceedings against the suspect and impeding justice for the bereaved families.

Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council, said it was not "up to us to comment on people's motivation and ideologies", adding: "It's for us to address the criminality that we see.

"This is crime, it's violent disorder. Whatever might motivate you to do that, it is not welcome in the communities that you've been to, you are just putting further pain and suffering on those families that are bereaved, and now is a time for support together and to get calm.

"Whatever the criminality is, however it manifests itself, we're ready to deal with it."

He added: "In the long term, we do need reinvestment in neighbourhood policing, in policing, understanding those issues that really affect local communities so we can respond to them.

"That's one of the founding principles of policing across the UK, that we are part of our communities, that we understand their issues, and that we want to be there alongside them to deal with them."

Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly MP said: "The police must always have the Government's backing to take the action they need to clamp down swiftly and firmly on violent crime.

“We can never tolerate disorder on our streets and must root out extremism wherever it lies.

“What is the Government doing to get the tech companies and social media platforms to step up their efforts to halt the spread of the disinformation that is fuelling this? I went to the US to meet them - has the Home Secretary even picked up the phone?”

False information has spread like wildfire on social media, with Russian state media among those to amplify inflammatory reports that the suspect – who was charged overnight – was an asylum seeker who arrived in the United Kingdom in a small boat.

Former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove said he had “not specifically heard of” a fake news website called Channel3Now which was behind the false information about the Southport attacker.

“Clearly, it’s one of the sources of this activity out of Russia,” he added.

“I think the people running these [sites] have a pretty open instruction to exploit opportunities as they identify them. They’re not going to get clearance from Putin, but it’s part of the nature of their setup and how they operate … They’re not going to act with restraint.”

Sir Richard said the spread of fake news was a “fundamental tactic” used by Putin’s regime against the UK and other Western nations.

He told LBC’s Nick Ferrari: “What I can tell you is that we’re in a state of grey warfare with Russia – we may not feel that we are, but they certainly think they are.

“The exploitation of that space is a fundamental tactic in their conflict with the West. So if these bots have been used to stir up through social media a violent response, I’m not the slightest bit surprised.

“People just don’t seem to understand the extent of the Russian attitude to conflict and the way every aspect of their relationship with us will be seen as a basis to attack us.”

The Kremlin launched a disinformation campaign in March that spread false claims MI6 and other Western intelligence agencies were responsible for a terror attack in Moscow.

Asked whether Moscow’s attitude towards the UK was “as grave as you can recall”, Sir Richard replied: “Yes, I think it is at the moment, certainly towards the West.

“The Russians think they’re in an existential conflict with us. That’s my view of the international situation. I think we are slightly complacent and I don’t think people necessarily understand the danger that we’re in.”