Tough Prison Sentences for Rioters: The Right Approach to Address Recent Mayhem
Prison works. Tough sentences for violent criminals really do work. It is absolutely right that those behind the mayhem of the past ten days are getting punishing jail terms. Rioters made a choice and are responsible for their own actions. Ryan Sheers and Steven Mailen were both given 26 months. O.A.P. rioter William Morgan, 69, was given a 32-month sentence.
Dishing out harsh sentences worked after the riots in 2011, and the threat of further violence likewise appears to be receding now. Ministers are looking at going even further. One option is to ban football fans involved in the riots from attending matches. If the idea deters further violence, it’s well worth considering.
PM Sir Keir Starmer yesterday said “it’s important that we don’t let up” in delivering swift justice. He’s right. After a week of fear and uncertainty, the public needs to know the rule of law is being restored. Perpetrators of hate crimes, on all sides, will face the consequences of their senseless savagery.
Decades of promises from successive governments to get more British workers into construction jobs have not been fulfilled. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is the latest to make the pledge, and we sincerely hope she delivers on her ambition. Last year, shortages of skilled workers were so bad that we had to import bricklayers, carpenters, and plasterers from overseas. This was a terrible betrayal of one of the chief promises behind Brexit.
We now need as many as possible of the 1.5 million houses Labour has pledged over the next five years to be built by British workforces. This means turbo-charging skills through training and letting kids learn trades instead of pursuing often unrewarding university courses.
It is a national tragedy that thousands of kids are falling sick with whooping cough, and ten have died, amid falling uptake of a free jab. Pregnant women and infants can get the injection on the NHS. Conspiracy theories around all vaccines, peddled unchecked on social media, have gone into overdrive since the pandemic. Greater numbers of parents are sadly falling for the lies and misinformation, leading to a dramatic fall in jab rates.
Coupled with a loss of immunity in the general population since Covid-19, the UK is now enduring the biggest outbreak of whooping cough in 30 years. Parents need to know that the vaccine does work, is safe, and offers the best chance of protecting their precious kids.
