Southport – the match that lit the multicultural tinderbox. The Southport stabbings in July 2024 had no direct relation to the summer disorders that followed it; but the disinformation on social media was enough to light the tinderbox of resentment in communities towards illegal immigration and failed multiculturalism.
The Prime Minister, Kier Starmer, in his statement to the nation on 4 August, called the summer disorder “far right thuggery.” This is too simplistic and will damage his reputation with some Labour voters. Starmer has vowed (typically) to be heavy handed against the disorder but this has led to strong accusations of two tier policing – heavy policing against summer disorder when Starmer made only a perfunctory statement about the Roma disorder in Harehills, Leeds just a few weeks earlier – multiculturalism has protected minority “communities” but white working class are ignored with no agency.
I happened to be in Blackpool for my summer family visit – it usually clashes either with the punk and skinhead Rebellion weekend or an Air show. This time there was another clash – the summer disorders. I was on the town centre promenade when the protesters (mostly) peacefully gathered at the cenotaph, before the disorder began. Whilst Blackpool was getting on with the business of entertaining tourists, it is still one of the country’s most deprived towns, and enough hotels to spare one or two for asylum seekers. So there is a genuine cause for concern. But what followed – disorder – is not ‘Blackpool’.
Media reporting tended to focus on the disorder being right-wing thuggery – but there are multiple levels of issues within this current disorder that fold into one. Firstly, it is a summer disturbance – not the first time this country has had this problem. Come the hot weather and teenagers at a loose end there is the the recipe for trouble. Led by adults the hormonal teenagers are attacking police and robbing shops – Vape stores and JD Sports – this has nothing to do with immigration. This is what it is – thuggery. I saw teenagers attack a middle aged white woman (some one’s mother) and laughing – this is the time when you want the police to be able to be robust, and to call out parents about controlling their children.
Fuelling teenage rebellion is their use of social media. Social media spread disinformation about the Southport stabbing – a truly shocking crime – by a young man born and bred in the UK was turned it into something completely different – about illegal asylum seekers. Who was doing this? What we know is a far right agitator, a right wing MP, and alleged Russian agitators.
Tommy Robinson was visible on X (Twitter) feeding people to support EDL and put the blame on police. Nigel Farage MP was shameful in his social media posts questioning the police about the information they were hiding (according to him) about the Southport child killer. This was unbecoming of an MP – to undermine Police at a time they are trying to protect the streets.
Right wing disinformation fed white youths who see only rising cost of living, poverty, and asylum seekers in hotels. This fuels a new form of sectarianism. There is an argument for limited social media blackout in these situations to prevent wanton disorder.
Finally, there is a genuine concern about illegal immigration and failure of successive governments to manage it. Despite the fact that Blairism originally opened the doors to increased immigration to this day it remains uncontrolled with Brexit making illegal immigration worse. Even Blair now admits it is a problem: Blair’s government commissioned five separate reports, all of which declared “that excessive cultural diversity is a hindrance to inter-racial harmony, and that community cohesion is the best solution.” Blairism – with the naïve cooperation of local councils – practised a form of multi-culturalism that enabled communities to become divided, and a lack of integration with new arrivals.
Parents and children were attending protests. But what is different about this year is that it is occurring mostly in Northern towns (with the exception of Aldershot) and from disenfranchised White communities. The fact that many asylum seekers’ hotels are in deprived Northern towns creates a dangerous scenario as anger is focused on asylum seekers given hotel accommodation when communities are deprived.
So there are a number of levels to this disorder that entwine – a shocking stabbing of children was used as a trigger to stir up anti-immigration rumblings using social media and the summer weather to taunt young people to make it happen. The police were seen as part of the problem through two tier policing.
Underneath the thuggery is a genuine concern about how the local communities in Northern towns have failed to gain from Tory levelling up post Brexit, and that the Tory talk of controlling immigration was not matched by action. Instead the Tory government placed the ever increasing numbers of asylum seekers in hotels in Northern towns which stoked anger about government funds going to asylum seekers not the deprived communities.
Starmer is addressing the disorder, but has to move the debate to the underlying issues – resentment about out of control immigration and its impact on services, and multiculturalism dividing communities. This is hugely challenging but without recognition he will lose the Northern votes that were lent to Labour in July 2024, Labour lost them in 2019, and the Tories lost them in 2024 for failing to manage immigration.
The Southport stabbings was used as the match to light the tinder box of the failures of multiculturalism and uncontrolled immigration – until these are tackled by the government the deepening of divided communities will only be prolonged.
