Frustration is the overriding emotion I have felt during this period of rioting and inexcusable criminal activity in London and other cities around the country – and this frustration seems to flow in all directions.

It is foolish to attack politicians for going on holiday; they deserve a break for the work that they do (not that anyone in any other job does not deserve a break) and they probably do a better job for being well rested. What does seem rather worthy of criticism is the fact that the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London were all on holiday at the same time. Theresa May and Nick Clegg returned rather swiftly and should be commended for cutting short their breaks as soon as it became clear that this was escalating out of control. Our Prime Minister, however, has not shone in this crisis. Firstly, the Parliament recall for purposes of having a day long debate stinks of reactionary populism and will serve little purpose – what we need immediately is robust policing to bring these riots to an end, and the longer term issues of socioeconomic deprivation and disaffection will require years of carefully planned policy and investment – a day spent condemning the riots in Parliament will not serve as a solution for the years of low opportunities and employment the areas have faced. Secondly, the return was too late – it was clear after the second night that leadership was needed, yet he did not choose to return until the devastating fires of Monday night made his return unavoidable. He took no questions after his short media address on Wednesday and spent Tuesday in Italy returning to a café for a photo opportunity with a waitress he previously hadn’t tipped. Thumb twiddling? You decide.

Mehdi Hasan, editor of the New Statesman, tweeted something along the lines of ‘Blair said we needed to be tough on crime, and tough on the causes of crime. Today we need to focus on the former’. I couldn’t agree more. The left must not allow itself to be painted as unwilling to tackle crime when it happens; its members do not help their cause when they provide justifications and excuses for these dreadful scenes. It is true that deprivation, a lack of opportunities and jobs and poor parenting no doubt played a role in allowing people to think that this sort of behaviour is at all acceptable. To deny this is folly. To allow it to be used as an excuse is dangerous. Those in the party should also be wary of blaming (the admittedly awful) Tory cuts to these areas. The effects of these are only just being felt; the younger rioters have spent the majority of their lives growing up under a Labour government and though the areas improved whilst we were in power, we could have and should have done better. Our party is as much to blame for the current lack of opportunity in the area as the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. Let us focus immediately on the criminals themselves – then when this is over, use it as evidence for the need to tackle deprivation in inner cities.

Facebook, Twitter and the workplace are awash with demands for hanging, ‘shooting on sight’, vigilantism and other actions typical of a despot regime’s response to calm protests. Calm protests these are not, but in difficult times we must espouse the values we fight to defend: freedom, robust but not excessively violent defence of fair laws and responsibility.  A calm, proportionate and measured response is what we need. Use of water cannons, tear gas and arms runs the risk of harming innocent people (water cannons have both gauged out innocent people’s eyes and killed others in the past) and set a nasty precedent . Improper policing of the student protests in response to the tuition fee tripling and police brutality in the case of the death of Gary Tomlinson are a serious concern and the seeming lack of accountability in many cases like these must be sorted. Allowing the police licence to use unnecessary and excessively violent measures to deal with these horrid events would be a very unwise idea. Though it seems things may quieten down tonight as a result of hugely increased police numbers, a firm, simple and potentially less violent response would be a curfew, with those breaking it facing arrest. Evidently, if this were necessary, it should be employed for only as long as it was clearly needed.

Lastly, let us turn to those committing these despicable acts of violence themselves. Let me be perfectly clear: these riots are not a political movement; they are inexcusable and unjustifiable acts of wanton criminality. Justifications from those involved have so far included ‘getting the rich business owners’. Local, small business owners who have provided the community with jobs will find it difficult to recover from having their stock stolen – and many of those who have had their shops burned down will go bust. Whilst it’s unlikely your local Tesco being burnt out will bring down the supermarket giant, it’s also been providing jobs to an area where there are many complaints about the lack of jobs available. Cuts have been excessive and unfair in the areas these riots have taken place. The cost to the local authorities of repairing the damage done to public areas and buildings, combined with the cost of the compensation the police must provide to business and homeowners affected will only compound the problem.

Frustration is not felt towards those who have organised the mobilisation of communities and individuals through social networks to clean up the riots. That’s the good society we know, and the good society we should encourage.

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