England riots: PM orders total review of policy to tackle 'moral collapse'

David Cameron will say a security and a social fightback is needed

David
Cameron is to announce a review of every government policy following
last week's riots, to ensure they are bold enough to fix a "broken
society".

In a speech later, the prime minister will talk of the need
for a social fightback to confront a "slow-motion moral collapse" in
society.


Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband will renew calls for a public inquiry into the disorder across England.


He is expected to accuse ministers of finger pointing against the police.


Mr Cameron will describe the rioting, looting and arson that
spread from London to parts of the East and West Midlands, Merseyside,
Bristol, Manchester and Gloucester as "a wake-up call for our country".


"Social problems that have been festering for decades have exploded in our face," he will say.


"Now, just as people wanted criminals robustly confronted on
our street, so they want to see these problems taken on and defeated.


"Our security fightback must be matched by a social
fightback. We must fight back against the attitudes and assumptions that
have brought parts of our society to this shocking state."


He will include children without fathers, schools without
discipline and communities without control in a long list of what he
believes has gone wrong in parts of the country.


He will go on to pledge that, together with ministers, he
will consider whether government plans and programmes are bold enough to
mend a "broken society".

David Cameron

The review will look at
education, welfare, families, parenting, addiction, communities, the
"twisting and misrepresenting of human rights that has undermined
personal responsibility" and the "obsession with health and safety that
has eroded people's willingness to act according to common sense".

Mr Cameron will also use the speech to reiterate his drive to
"build a bigger, stronger society", reinvigorated by last week's
events.


"In my very first act as leader of this party, I signalled my
personal priority: to mend our broken society. That passion is stronger
today than ever," he will say.


In a separate address, Mr Miliband will warn against kneejerk gimmicks which have not been thought through.


He will also accuse the prime minister of taking a simplistic
view of the riots by seeing them as a problem of culture alone, without
considering the impact of lack of opportunity and deprivation.


MPs' inquiry
At Scotland Yard, a group of MPs are expected to meet acting
Met Police commissioner Tim Godwin in private to find out how anti-riot
tactics developed over the course of the disturbances.


Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), is also due to speak to them.


Questions from MPs on the home affairs select committee, who
are carrying out an inquiry, are expected to include the exact timing of
the decision to almost treble officer numbers on London's streets.


The meeting is in preparation for 6 September when the
committee will begin to publicly hear from witnesses, including Mr
Godwin and London Mayor Boris Johnson.


In recent days, the police and the government have clashed over the handling of the police response.


Home Secretary Theresa May said it was her job to tell the
police what the public wanted them to do, as acting Met chief Mr Godwin
accused MPs of "inconsistency of guidance".


Mrs May will chair a meeting of the government's emergency committee, Cobra, later to discuss the next steps.


Over the weekend, extra police patrolled city streets but there were no signs of any unrest.


In London and Birmingham, magistrates continued to wade through the latest cases in weekend sittings.