Rioters must take responsibility for their actions – but so must politicians

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today’s statement from the Prime Minister was statesmanlike. Likewise Ed Miliband’s thoughtful response. By and large MPs were on their best behaviour. But beneath the surface there’s a clear split developing. Whilst Miliband and Cameron bought sought to understand the cause of recent violence, their prescriptions could not be more different.

For Cameron, the days of “hug a hoodie” are long gone. It is a lack of school discipline and parenting that’s now to blame. Culture was the root cause he argued – poverty was not. Are the working classes inherently more violent and more criminal than the middle classes? Is their culture inferior? The insinuation from the Prime Minister hung heavy in the air.

Five years ago the PM said:

“Understanding the background, the reasons, the causes. It doesn’t mean excusing crime but it will help us tackle it.”

He’s still trying to understand the causes, it seems, but alas, his answers are the same old Tory lines.

In response Ed Miliband was calm, measured and reassuring. He continued in a similar vein to his performances on News International last month. He looked like a man speaking to and for his country. And yet…Miliband spent much of his time avoiding Cameron’s carefully laid traps. Acutely aware that he couldn’t link the cuts to rioting without risking a media firestorm, he returned – sensibly – to his responsibility narrative. His response was more about communities and societies than the one dimensional law and order schtick from the PM. And yet it avoided making the most obvious statement – that whether these riots were caused by criminality or poverty (of course they are a combination of the two, and much more), Labour must bear its own share of the blame. If the rioters must accept their own responsibility, then so must Miliband, and politicians of all parties.

Over thirteen years in power, and despite great efforts to reduce inequality, our society became more unequal. Social and economic breakdown has become endemic in some of our poorest communities. A lack of parental time (never mind responsibility) is lacking in many of our inner cities. This crisscrosses race and geography, but rarely class or income. And despite years of rhetoric, iniatives and no little effort, we didn’t do enough to fix that. The social problems at the heart of so many of our communities may be worsened by this government, but they haven’t sprung up over the last year. For that Labour must take responsibility.

Perhaps the cuts are, in some way, the straw that broke the camel’s back after years of rising inequality. The present government have shown little interest in narrowing the gap between rich and poor, and eliminating child poverty now seems as far away as ever. Police cuts too are likely to inhibit the ability to deal with future riots and disturbances. For that the Tories must take responsibility.

Yet only once we make peace with our own failings on poverty and inequality can we begin to develop policy positions that will deal with it. So far, that hasn’t happened. Instead we get the usual politicians dance, except this time with an added lack of self awareness. Labour argues that poverty and inequality are to blame, having failed to deal with inequality or eliminate child poverty. The Tories say law and order is the problem, whilst presiding over police cuts.

Until our politicians take responsibility and learn from their own mistakes, their moral authority on riots, poverty or law and order will remain minimal. And at a time when we need political leadership more than ever, that would be a criminal deriliction of duty.