Croydon Labour: | Croydon Riots - an update

Croydon Riots - an update

Malcolm Wicks MP writes:

Keeping you informed about the action I have taken since the Croydon riots and how I see the way forward.

Public Meeting

The meeting at the Oshwal Centre, as you know, was very well-attended and enabled many residents to talk about their own experiences. I certainly found it very useful.

Constituency Office Work

My staff and I have been both providing support to those who were adversely affected by the riots and the arson. We have helped a large number of people access financial support for their businesses, from funds that have been established. We have worked with homeless people to help secure accommodation. We have been in frequent contact with agencies such as Jobcentre Plus, local Council Departments and the Benefits Agency.

Croydon Public Enquiry

Together with local councillors I called for a public enquiry into the riots and the response of the police and the Council. I am pleased to report that the Council has followed my recommendation and a Local Independent Review Panel has now been established under the leadership of retired judge, William Barnett QC. If you would like to give a written statement your can either email localreview@croydon.gov.uk or send a letter to The Secretary, Croydon Independent Local Review Panel, 5th Floor Southside, Taberner House, Park Lane, Croydon CR9 3BT by Monday, 10th October. The Panel will gather evidence and submit its findings to the national inquiry.

Questions to the Prime Minister

On two occasions in the House of Commons I have questioned the Prime Minister about the implications for police numbers, as I am very concerned about Government proposals to reduce police numbers in the future. I attach a sheet showing my questions and the Prime Minister’s answers. I have also extracted for you my speech to the House of Commons on Thursday, 11th August.

Meetings with the Police

I have written to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner asking how many police officers were on duty in Croydon when the riots broke out and also questioning the decision to call our then Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts, up to Scotland Yard to take on other duties, shortly before the riots broke out in our borough.

I have also met the new Croydon Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent David Musker.

Moving Forward

The challenge now is to move forward in a positive way so that the devastated areas can emerge stronger. To this end, I would like to see some productive use made of the old Croydon General Hospital site, which currently is an eyesore. It is also important that local people and local businesses are consulted fully about the re-development that now needs to take place following the destruction caused by looting and fires.

West Croydon Voice

I therefore welcome the establishment of the West Croydon Voice Group by local businesses and residents who want the Council to listen and act on key issues affecting the area: the rebuilding and improvement of London Road, including the Croydon General Hospital site; keeping the area safe and clean; achieving the right balance of new housing and public services. If you are interested, please contact stuart.collins@croydonlabour.org.uk

I will, of course, put updates on this website as things progress.

Malcolm

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CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS [extracts from Hansard]

Thursday, 11 August 2011

QUESTION TO THE PRIME MINISTER

Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North) (Lab): I, too, thank the Prime Minister for visiting Croydon earlier in the week, where he met our decent citizens who had become victims, had seen their buildings and businesses burnt down, and had seen their offices and shops trashed. The plea from people in that Croydon war zone—for that is what it was—was “Where were the police?” For hour after hour after hour, people were free to pillage and loot, with no uniformed officers around.

This is not partisan. May I ask the Prime Minister, on behalf of the people whom I have met over the past two days, distraught and sad people, the people of Croydon North who have been the victims—may I plead with the Prime Minister, on behalf of my constituents—to think again about police numbers? The people of Croydon, and indeed the people of London, want more police in London, not fewer. Providing fewer would be precisely the wrong policy, at precisely the wrong time for our society.

The Prime Minister: The time that I spent in Croydon with the right hon. Gentleman was incredibly powerful. I heard about the immense frustration, and the anger, that those shopkeepers, householders and tenants felt. Let me say this to the right hon. Gentleman, however. The problem was that the police were not on the streets. The problem was not about police budgets in four years’ time, but about the availability of the police right now. There are 32,000 officers in the Met. We needed to get more of them on to the streets more quickly, and more of them to Croydon. It is about now: it is not about the budgets of the future.

SPEECH DURING THE DEBATE

Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North) (Lab): As soon as I heard that there were riots—and they were riots—in my constituency and in the borough of Croydon, I left my family holiday, and I have spent the last two days talking to many hundreds of victims. I think it is best, in the brief time available to me, to report to the House on what I have heard. There were hundreds of people on the rampage in Croydon, ranging, I am told, from those aged eight or 10 to those in their 50s, but obviously most were teenagers and people in their 20s. As the House knows, major buildings were torched; there were absolutely devastating fires. Those buildings, many of which housed businesses and accommodation, have now been demolished. When I looked at the area on Tuesday morning, I realised that it could be London during the blitz, or Berlin in 1945. It is no soundbite to say that it was a war zone. Many were lucky to escape with their lives, and not to be burned to death. A woman jumped from a burning building.

Many dozens of small businesses—offices and shops—were trashed or robbed. There was theft on a gigantic scale. Those small businesses were mainly owned by people from our ethnic communities—hard-working, enterprising people who put their life savings into their businesses. They worked to build them up, and now they have seen them devastated.

Of course there were brave police officers, firefighters and ambulance staff, but the thin blue line was very thin indeed; frankly, in my constituency of Croydon North it was virtually invisible, in the minds of the victims. It is interesting that the centre of Croydon, with big national offices such as those of Nestlé, major superstores such as Marks & Spencer and national brands, was protected by the police, so the mobs descended towards west Croydon, and came into my constituency—the poorer part of the borough, where enterprises are small and tend to be owned by hard-working families. I heard dozens of reports, as I ducked into shops to look at the devastation, that the police had effectively been nowhere to be seen. 999 calls were sometimes unanswered. When people got through they were told that no officers were available. If they dared to call again out of fear about what was happening, they were told they were being a nuisance and, “Please do not call again.”

The thugs ruled the roost. Looking at it objectively, the thugs were more mobile, certainly more numerous and made more effective use of technology than the police. That is the reality as I see it. The looters in Croydon North did not have just an hour or two; they had all night to loot and loot again. The shopkeepers told me that people were returning hour after hour to take everything away. None of this was helped by the absurd decision of Metropolitan police commanders to withdraw our very able and experienced police commander from Croydon to look after strategy at Scotland Yard, meaning that when the riots kicked off that experience was not available.

I have to say to the House on behalf of my constituents that there was no law in Corydon North that night. There was just lawlessness. There was no order, but there was grave disorder. There were virtually no police; the vandals were in command. People are angry and upset and we have got to do better in future.

QUESTION TO THE PRIME MINISTER, WEDNESDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER

Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North) (Lab): When the Croydon riots hit our borough on that terrible Monday night, there were at most 100 police officers on the streets, including some very young community support officers, facing mobs hundreds and hundreds strong, as a result of which my borough was undefended, burnt and looted. May I put it to the Prime Minister, not as a partisan point but as a sensible point, that when the criminal facts change in England, as they did following the riots, a sensible Government would pause for thought and change their mind—and that the last thing they would do is reduce police numbers?

The Prime Minister: I went to visit Croydon and met the right hon. Gentleman and a number of people who had seen some shocking things happen in that borough which must not be allowed to happen again, but let me say to him that, even after the changes that we are making in police funding, the police will be able to surge as they did in Croydon, in Tottenham, in Manchester and in Salford. The problem on the night of the riots was that the surge did not take place soon enough, and he confuses the response to the riots in the immediate circumstances with what is happening to police funding. The police have assured me that they will be able to deliver on to the streets of London as many police as they did when they got control of the riots.